Open Season
by x A Ninny Mouse x
Summary: The Loonatics are sent out after some suspicious disappearances, and their search takes them to a strange island where they learn a new meaning to the term 'Open Season.' Sequel to 'Paradox.'
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: ...Well that was longer than two months, wasn't it? DX I apologize. I'm really, really sorry. I meant to have the outline for this finished in July. That obviously didn't happen. Life decided to sneak up on me in a dark alley and beat me with a crowbar. I really hated myself for not being able to post anything over this extended, impromptu, unannounced hiatus. And even worse, my updating will be sporadic. I will not even try to predict when chapters will be finished- they're going to get up when they get up. I'll try for one every two weeks, but no promises. Blame my pointless AP Art History class and the 2 hours per night average of homework. (On the plus side, I did manage to type this up in a five-day period, so that might mean I'm over exaggerating a bit.)**

**Anywho, on to notes that actually relate to what I'm writing! XD So, this story is loosely based off of Richard Connell's 'The Most Dangerous Game'. There will be many similarities between them, but mine will also deviate from it in many ways to keep you readers on your toes. You don't have to read Connell's work to understand mine, though I recommend it- it's an awesome short story! Also, I'm doing things a bit differently this time around. I want to experiment a bit with third person POV, so I'm going to try staying away from first person POV. There will still probably be some first person POV stuffs here and there, but it will mostly be third. Lastly, there will be some more TechxSive stuffs in here, so enjoy those! XD**

**Now, on with the show! ...story...whatever.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't have **_**time**_** to own anything! **

**Note: All translations are at the bottom with their respective asterisks. I apologize for my mistakes, but Google Translate isn't perfect and no one I know speaks German. XD**

It was a quiet, peaceful night. Absolutely silent, save for the distant sound of water breaking on the shore. Early morning dew had gathered on the grass and leaves of the dense forest underbrush, and what moonlight managed to shine through the thick canopy of leaves above was reflected off of the larger drops to create a disco-ball like effect, the light cutting through the darkness around them. The patterns of light became erratic when a sudden gust of wind fueled by the oncoming storm in the distance caused all of the plants to dance and bend. Then, just as quickly as it came, it stopped, and everything was again still, silent. It was a truly picturesque scene.

So, naturally, it didn't last very long.

A young man came crashing through the underbrush, his clothes catching on branches and sending dew drops everywhere in a fine spray. He was closely followed by another older man. Both were running full sprint, wildly looking behind them every few yards, their eyes wide with terror.

The one in the lead put on a sudden burst of speed, pulling ahead of the older man behind him without a second thought. His legs were on fire, he felt as though he was about to collapse from exhaustion, and his lungs felt as though they were about to burst, but he had no intention of stopping to rest. Eventually, he pulled so far ahead that he couldn't hear the other man behind him anymore. He debated slowing down, letting the other man catch up, when a loud _crack_ echoed out, the sound reverberating off of the tree trunks.

He ran faster.

He took a winding route, circling trees, crashing through the dense foliage, tumbling down hills, and practically running on water to escape his unseen adversaries. He didn't spare another thought for his comrade; the only thing going through his head was _faster, faster, faster!_

He circled around one more time, doubling back a bit, and then collapsed and quickly rolled under a bush, out of sight from anything higher than a few inches off the ground. He lay down on his stomach, then peered up through the bush, trying to keep his desperate gasps for breath as silent as possible. After almost five minutes of watching the still forest around him, he was finally satisfied that nothing had followed him, and he rested his head on the ground, allowing himself a few moments rest before taking off again. A simple bush wasn't near enough protection from what he was running from for any length of time.

He ended up lying there for almost fifteen minutes. His mind was racing, constantly telling him that he should get moving before he was found, but his body had other ideas. His limbs felt as though they were encased in solid cement, his heart was still racing, his lungs still aching, and his eyes were threatening to close in sleep, no matter how unwelcome the idea was. He was just about to give in, when he heard something from fairly close by that made his blood run cold and his eyes snap open.

Dogs. Lots of them- barking and howling as they caught and followed his scent. And by the sound of it, they were getting closer quickly.

With a curse, he took of faster than a striking rattlesnake, ignoring his protesting limbs and running blindly away from the sounds. He snaked his way through the undergrowth yet again, but knew that he wouldn't be able to outrun the dogs. He didn't know where a body of water was that he could run through to avoid leaving a scent everywhere he went, and didn't have the strength left to climb a tree.

After what seemed like forever, he broke through the trees, and stumbled as the foliage underfoot thinned out into sparse grass and hard-packed earth. He couldn't regain his balance in time, and fell to the ground with a strangled cry as he felt something pop in his ankle. He hugged his knee to his chest, protectively grabbing his injured ankle. He could feel that something wasn't where it was supposed to be- muscle or bone, he didn't know- and he hissed through clenched teeth as it throbbed painfully.

He spared a moment to take in his surroundings, hoping that by some strange miracle his luck would change and there would be a hiding spot within crawling distance. He was sitting in the middle of a small clearing, the thick, jungle-like forest coming to a sudden end behind him and on either side next to him. His front was a completely different story; the view was dominated by what could have been called a stunning view of the night sky, the stars and moon glowing brightly in stark contrast to the black clouds darkening the sky farther out to sea. All he saw, however, was the sudden drop off. He carefully crawled up to the edge and looked down to see the 70-or-so foot sheer drop to the ocean below. The waves, whipped up by the wind, were so large, he could feel their spray as they crashed onto the bottom of the cliff far below.

He rapidly whipped his head around as he heard the sound of howling again, only this time, it was closer than it had been before. Much closer. He probably only had a minute until they caught up to him. He knew he wouldn't be able to run anymore. He suddenly knew what a deer caught in the headlights of a car felt like.

And yet, this man was stubborn. Right then, he simply refused to be caught like he was- injured, exhausted, and scared out of his mind- be mauled by vicious dogs, and then give his captors the enjoyment of catching him. If he was going to die, and at that point, it was inevitable, he planned on doing it on his own terms.

With that thought, he used his good foot to propel himself off of the cliff just as the small pack of dogs rocketed out of the forest, intent on catching him. They all managed to stop in time before following the man over the edge, and now that they couldn't see their quarry, started sniffing around for him, and whining loudly when they found that the scent trail ended at the cliff.

Another younger man ran out of the forest, hunting rifle in hand, loudly shouting orders at the dogs. They ignored him in favor of continuing their fruitless search for the nonexistent scent trail. No matter what he tried, the dogs wouldn't listen, and he wasn't going to risk approaching them to look over the cliff for his target. The dogs would attack anything they didn't recognize as their master during a hunt, and they obviously weren't listening to him.

"_Verstummen_ _lassen_! _Sitzen_!"* a voice suddenly yelled over the noisy dogs and frustrated man. The man jumped slightly in surprise, and the dogs immediately quieted and sat down in a line facing the newcomer as he stepped out from behind a tree and into the moonlight. He was more heavyset than his younger companion, and he, too, had a hunting rifle, though his was strapped to his back.

"How come these rats only listen to you?" the first man asked through a heavy Texan accent.

"Simple: zey only shpeak German," the second replied with an equally thick German accent. "Zey are _my_ dogs, after all."

"I don't care if they speak Latin- just make sure they ain't gonna attack the rest of us," the Texan said indignantly as he walked up and peered over the cliff. "Ya know, it's real unsportsmanlike when they do that."

"You lost anozer vone? Vhat happened to 'Give me ze dogs- I can catch him!'" the German asked dryly.

"It ain't easy when the dogs barely listen to ya!" He stared out over the choppy waters for a moment as his German friend kneeled to look over his dogs, checking for any injuries. "Can you feel it comin' back, too?" he asked after a moment.

"Hm?"

"I talked to the others, an' it ain't just me," he continued. "We're fallin' into the same routine again. It's gettin'..._boring_."

Boredom- a most hated word among their small group, yet something they all experienced, and evidently, were experiencing again. It was why they were on their little island of isolation to start with. For a long while, they had managed to escape their menace, only for it to rear its ugly head yet again.

"Yes, I have noticed zat... But ve need not vorry," the German said, almost to himself as he stood up and joined his friend on the edge. The Texan cast him a questioning look. "Problems such as zis have vays of sorting zemselves out. Just give it time."

"Don't get all philosophical on me, old man. I don't have the patience to try makin' sense of it," the Texan said as he turned around and started walking away.

"I'm not zat much older zan you are," the German returned playfully. He then turned to the dogs and shouted "_Kommen_!"** They immediately stood up and followed in a single file line behind the German, still paying the Texan no mind.

"Yer old enough," the Texan countered as he slung his rifle over his shoulder. "Hopefully the next hunt will be better than this one."

"You are just mad zat I von. Again. …But, yes, a better hunt vould be appreciated. Like I said, ve just have to vait."

**A/N: I was really happy with this when I wrote it. It was a lot less dialogue-y than I'm used to, but I still like this. I'm trying to work a bit more on description, too... Always room for improvement! The Loonatics will come in next chapter, so there won't be a long wait for that. I'm already partially done with the chapter, and I'll get it up as soon as possible!**

**Critiques are welcome, and reviews are all loved!**

***Silence! Sit!  
>**Come!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Busy schedule is busy…eurgh… RL can really suck sometimes… Anywho, I got this done in my 2-week span! Yay! …I actually could've (and should've) had this done last week, seeing as I had a minor surgery and was out of school for four days as a result, and had **_**more**_** than enough time to type up a chapter, but it seemed that no matter what I did, it still wouldn't come out a way that I liked… I'm still not entirely happy with it, but instead of spending a whole month on it, I decided to put it up as-is. **

**And the plot develops…**

The Loonatics were baffled. No, not because of some mysterious new criminal or a mysterious case, but because for the first time in almost two weeks, they hadn't been woken up at some ungodly hour by a call from Zadavia.

Due to city budget cuts, the local police force experienced some layoffs. They were fairly minor layoffs compared to other areas of public work, but this threw the police force into a tizzy, prompting wild claims of being severely understaffed. This fueled a sudden crime spree, prompting the police to call in the Loonatics to handle a lot of jobs that were a bit sub-par compared to their usual cases and that the police could have easily handled themselves. These calls usually came in ridiculously early in the morning, ridiculously late at night, or on a particularly bad day, both, and they always led to long, tiring days (and/or nights.) By the end of the first week, even Zadavia had been grumbling under her breath about the laziness of the Acmetropolis PD.

So, naturally, getting a full night's sleep and having a quiet morning was a strange phenomenon for the Loonatics.

They weren't really sure what to do with themselves to pass their sudden free time, so most of them were relaxing in the living room. 'Most' being the key word.

"I know! Maybe someone's kidnapped Zadavia! That's why she hasn't called!" Duck exclaimed, pacing around in a circle around the coffee table. "We need to mount a rescue mission! Now, who do we know who'd want Zadavia gone...?"

"Duck, it's just a hunch, but you _may_ be overreacting," Lexi stated.

"Just a bit," Ace agreed.

"Da hablaha faru kidnap?" Slam asked worriedly.

"Oh-don't-worry-Slam-no-one's-kidnapped-Zadavia," Rev said reassuringly to the distressed Tasmanian devil, patting a hand on his large shoulder. "Duck's-just-being-Duck-and-besides-Zadavia-could-handle-herself-if-she-was-thretened." Slam just nodded in response, accepting this answer as though it explained everything. For anyone who knew Duck, it did.

"Okay, so I'll put the kidnapping idea aside for now..." Duck muttered ruefully, giving his teammates a disdainful look, "But what if this is all an elaborate trap! Someone is jamming all of our communications and is mounting an attack on HQ right as we speak, and our allies are powerless to inform us of our impending doom! That must be-!"

His latest conspiracy theory was interrupted by the loud, annoying ringtone of his phone, making Tech pause in fiddling with the small device that currently held his attention and cringe. Duck immediately answered, but flinched and yanked the phone away from his ear at Sive's yelled "Get a grip, Duck!" He turned to glare at the smirking coyote as she put her phone away.

"I thought you said you were getting a new phone..." Tech grumbled irritably, mostly to himself.

"Well, now dat we know we still have communications, got any other theories, Duck?" Ace asked smartly, hiding his laughter very well.

"You're despicable," Duck said, though whether it was to Ace or Sive, no one knew.

"Zadavia probably finally managed to knock some sense in the police chief," Lexi stated, trying to put some sense into the situation.

"Unfortunately not, Lexi," the disembodied voice of Zadavia said regretfully a split second before a holographic image of the Frelengian appeared. There was a collective groan from around the room. "The chief still refuses to see that his 'staffing problems' are nonexistent, and it doesn't appear as though that's about to change anytime soon."

"Well, I know who I won't be supporting come the next elections…" Tech muttered grumpily.

"I do have a bit of good news for you all, though," Zadavia stated, immediately capturing the undivided attention of everyone in the room. "This job should be one you won't mind receiving."

"That's the best thing I've heard all week," Lexi stated gleefully.

"What're da details?" Ace asked.

"About a week ago, a boat full of vacationing tourists disappeared off of the coast of Acmetropolis," Zadavia explained. "They were on a small speedboat, the _Free _Spirit I believe, and there were five of them aboard; four college students and an adult."

"Do the police suspect foul play?" Tech asked, already drawing a few conclusions from the limited information.

"Not at all; they believe they know what the culprit is," Zadavia stated, much to everyone else's confusion. "After the meteor hit, the Earth was knocked off of its axis, as you all know. What you may not know is that knocking the Earth off its axis caused some major ocean currents to shift. One such current lies several miles off of Acmetropolis leading down to the Gulf. It shifted closer to the mainland, making previous fishing spots and safe, open water appealing to tourists a boat trap. Boats can get dragged away on occasion.

"This current has done so in the past, with boats from small fishing vessels to large cruise liners and freighters. The boats usually turn up down the coast a few days later. However, every so often, a boat doesn't turn up again, and that's when search parties get sent. The police think that your boat is powerful enough to cut through that current and search for the missing boat, along with the help of a few Coast Guard boats. There will be a great number of eyes out there, so many such that sending you all out will be a bit…redundant."

"And this is good news _how_...?" Duck asked skeptically.

"Because it is an easy job, although I hate to think of how _bored_ you all will be, on your _boat_, in the middle of the _ocean_, with nothing to do and such _warm_ weather, for hours, maybe days." She smiled winked, and the hologram faded from view. The room was dead silent afterwards.

"...What did that even _mean_?" Duck asked after a moment.

"You really are dense sometimes, you know that?" Sive dryly asked the mallard.

"...Did Zadavia just assign us a vacation?" Tech asked, for once completely dumbfounded.

"Well-we-still-have-to-look-out-for-the-missing-boaters-although-we-will-have-the-Coast-Guard's-help-and-someone-has-to-be-awake-at-the-wheel-at-all-times-but-other-than-that-it's-a-good-chance-to-relax!" Rev chirped happily. Slam accompanied with a loud whoop of joy.

"It's nice to know that she's looking out for us," Lexi said.

"Well, you guys heard da boss," Ace said loudly as he stood up, getting everyone's attention. "Tech, Rev; you two get da boat ready. Everyone else, get ready ta head out for a few days. We've got some boaters ta find!"

**xoxoxoxox**

"Now dis is more like it!" Ace shouted over the wind. He was standing on the lower deck with Slam and Duck, looking over the railing at the water and keeping his ears from blowing into his face with one hand. Acmetropolis was quickly receding in the distance behind them, and the four coast guard boats that had accompanied them were fanning out and getting further away on both sides.

"This is just what the doctor ordered," Duck agreed, laying down precariously perched on the railing. "Warm weather, easy job, no danger in sight-" The mallard was rudely interrupted from his musings after they hit a wave, causing the whole boat to jerk and knock him off of the railing and onto his rear on the deck. "-though I could do with calmer seas..."

"It's only going to get rougher from here!" Tech shouted down from the controls on the upper deck, prompting the other three to look up at him. "There's a storm coming in. It won't hit us out where we're going to be, but the winds will make for choppy seas."

"Let's hope dose boaters will be alright..." Ace muttered, looking back out over the water.

"Oh-I'm-sure-they'll-be-fine-they're-in-a-speedboat-and-if-they're-not-moving-at-extreme-speeds-then-they-shouldn't-capsize-the-storm-won't-be-that-strong-and-futhermore-there-are-a-whole-bunch-of-people-out-looking-for-them-and-at-this-rate-we'll-find-them-long-before-the-storm-hits," Rev rambled reassuringly.

"Not if that current dragged them far enough away..." Tech murmured grimly, looking up from the controls. The water was clear for a long ways, nothing in sight for miles ahead. The sky was another matter, but he knew that the storm would barely hit them with where they were supposed to be searching. "They've been missing for a while, too…"

"Hey-did-anyone-see-where-Lexi-went-I-mean-it's-a-boat-it's-kind-of-hard-to-disappear-for-very-long," Rev asked, looking around for the aforementioned pink bunny.

"She's under the overhang over near the front," Sive informed. She was standing on the upper deck with Tech and Rev, looking over the side of the boat as the water rushed past them. "She said something about seasickness and wanted to be alone."

"She'll be fine, once the wind dies down and the water gets calmer," Tech reassured, turning to face the other coyote. She had taken a tip from Lexi and had tied her hair back, though a few shorter locks had gotten free and were blowing around in the wind. However, unlike everyone else, she didn't seem to be enjoying their little break. On the contrary, she looked slightly nervous as she looked at the rushing water below, and had a death-grip with both hands on the rail. "Are you okay?" he asked concernedly, turning completely around and leaning back on the controls.

Sive jumped a little at being addressed, then gave him a sheepish look, flattening her ears against her head and giving a small, embarrassed smile. "Have I, uh...ever told you that I've never been on a boat before?"

This admission prompted surprised looks from both Tech and Rev. "You've never been on a boat before?" Tech parroted, his surprise evident in his voice. Sive shyly nodded her head.

"Well-I-guess-it-isn't-that-suprising-when-you-think-about-it-considering-your-backstory-and-all-I-guess-we-just-assumed-since-in-this-day-and-age-everyone's-been-on-the-water-at-some-point-or-another-but-it's-nothing-to-be-embarrassed-about-or-anything," Rev said sympathetically. He left his post at the controls and zipped over to stand next to Sive. "I-remember-I-was-terrified-my-first-time-on-a-boat-since-I-come-from-the-desert-and-all-but-you-seem-to-be-holding-up-pretty-well."

Tech amusedly recognized the irony behind Rev- the friendliest member of the team, a real people-person- not recognizing the falseness of his statement. He wanted to say something to reassure her, but knew she wouldn't appreciate it if he pointed out her fears to the oblivious Rev. He was saved from his conundrum, however, when Sive said, "Uh, guys, not that I don't appreciate you two trying to make me feel better about this and all, but...who's driving?"

Rev and Tech both visibly blanched as they looked at each other and realized that the correct answer to her question was _no one_, and that the boat was starting to veer to the left. Tech, being closer to the controls, was about to turn back around, but Rev beat him to it, zipping back to his own position and fiddling with the controls, righting their course and leaving the two coyotes to continue talking. Tech took the opportunity and faced Sive again, embarrassedly rubbing the back of his neck and smiling sheepishly, knowing that they had probably just inadvertently scared Sive further. "Heh heh heh...oops?"

Sive gave a small smile and shook her head slightly, but she was back to nervously staring when she caught sight of the water below again. "There's nothing to be afraid of, you know," he said quietly enough that Rev wouldn't hear, but loudly enough that Sive wouldn't be further embarrassed by him being overt.

Sive perked up her ears slightly and cast him an appraising look for a moment before relaxing fractionally. "I know, it's just...I've avoided water pretty much all my life, so suddenly being surrounded by it, possibly for days, with no land in sight is a bit...unnerving."

"Why have you avoided water?"

"Electricity and water don't mix very well," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, what about before you got your powers? That was only, what, going on four years ago or something?"

"The only water source in the Navy District is what's left of the Chicago River, and I've seen a kid fall in there and come back in with severe skin burns. I don't know about you, but taking a dip in acid doesn't really appeal to me," she said dryly. She left it at that; she never spoke about her life before the District unless directly asked, and Tech knew she didn't like talking about it at all, so he left it be.

"...Can you swim?" Tech asked, putting two and two together and coming to that conclusion for her fear.

"I'm not the _best_ swimmer, but I can do it," she replied looking back down at the water. "Not sure how far I'd get in these choppy waters, though."

"Well, you don't have to get into the water if you don't have to, and this boat isn't sinking anytime soon. I'd know- I built her myself," he stated smugly.

"Yeah, they said that about the _Titanic_, too..." she joked, feeling comfortable enough to let go of the rail with one hand and lightly elbow him in the ribs.

"Hey!" he exclaimed in mock insult, though he was pleased with himself on the inside that he had gotten her to feel more comfortable. "Do you see any icebergs around here? Or anything we can possibly hit for that matter?"

She laughed, and Tech smiled at the sound. She looked out over the water with new eyes, no longer fearing what was below and instead enjoying the view. It wasn't often that Tech saw the younger coyote actually look honest-to-God _happy_; she came close at times, laughing and joking around with the others, but the scars of her past were evident in her personality if one knew what to look for. She was still fairly reserved, and didn't trust easily, though she had come out of her shell a bit over the year or so she had been with the Loonatics. Tech knew that she'd never completely get over what had happened to her, though.

Looking at her then, it looked as though nothing had ever happened. Leaning on the railing contentedly looking out over the water, a small smile on her lips and her hair in her face, she looked as though nothing had ever happened to her- that she was always happy. Tech even went so far as to think she was pretty, though immediately after that thought entered his head, he stopped in his hypothetical tracks and thought _Where did that come from?_ It was then that he caught himself staring, too, and he quickly looked away. In doing so, he caught a glimpse of something out on the water, and had to do a double-take to make sure he didn't just imagine it. He had to squint to make out what he was looking at, but as they got closer, it became obvious.

It was a bright orange life preserver, with the words _Free Spirit_ emblazoned in white on the side.

**A/N: Plot! XD Is it mean of me to end there? Probably, but if I went any further, this would have been both late and extremely long. **

**Quick note: I checked, double-checked, and re-checked the episode "A Creep in the Deep" (I'm 99.7% certain that's the title… whichever one has Adolpho in it,) for the name of the Loonatic's boat, but it appears to be the only invention of Tech's without an awesome, very Tech-ish name. My brain simply refused to cooperate, and I couldn't come up with one, so it will simply be referred to as 'the boat,' and it is the same one from that episode. Yay for being canon-ically correct! XD**

**In other news, I'm going on yet another multi-hour car trip tomorrow and coming back Saturday, and to anyone that has read my work in the past, that means odds are, I will have another chapter when I get back or soon afterwards. So, until then, Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers, and to my readers elsewhere, have a happy Thursday, anyways! **

**R&R!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This was a little longer than I was expecting… Oh, well, I got it up fast, didn't I? XD They joy of road trips… Anyway, the next one will be up in a two-week span at some point, like usual, and this is where stuff starts getting exciting! I wasn't too happy with this chapter, either, but hey, I wanted it up, so it's up. Enjoy!**

They carefully maneuvered the boat up alongside the life preserver, a difficult task in the choppy water. Once it was within reach, Duck leaned over the railing, being careful so as not to fall overboard, and pulled the bright orange, doughnut shaped flotation device into the boat. Tech shut of the engine, essentially letting the current take the boat wherever it pleased for a while, and everyone gathered around the discarded ring. This included Lexi, who looked a little green, but appeared to be holding up fairly well.

"That's from the _Free Spirit_, alright," Tech stated grimly, running his hand over the white lettering naming the boat the preserver belonged to.

"Da question is, where's da rest of it?" Ace asked, scanning the water for any more signs of the missing boat. "And why's dis thing out here?"

"There-are-a-lot-of-possible-explanations-like-maybe-they-hit-a-bump-and-it-fell-off-or-somebody-knocked-it-overboard-or-they-threw-it-to-someone-in-the-water-and-forgot-to-grab-it-or-maybe-they-were-just-playing-with-it-in-the-water-and-lost-it," Rev reasoned, staying optimistic and trying to find a solution that didn't betray the grimness of the situation.

"I don't like this..." Lexi murmured quietly.

"None of us do!" Duck interjected. "This looks really bad for those boaters!"

"No, I mean this is just _weird_," Lexi stated. "This life preserver wouldn't be floating out here unless they capsized or something, and these waves aren't big enough to capsize a boat of that size, yet. So, that begs the question; why's it _here_?"

"Like-I-said-maybe-it-just-"

"Rev, I don't think it was an accident," Sive interrupted gently, saying what everyone was thinking. Whatever had happened, it wasn't good, and Lexi's description of 'weird' was probably accurate.

"We should look around in this area- see if there's more to the boat floating around here," Tech stated, standing up and heading back up to the controls.

"Good idea, Tech," Ace agreed. "You drive da boat. Rev, you fly up and take a look around. Duck, you call da Coast Guard and tell 'em what we found. Everyone else, take up a position and start lookin'."

They all did as Ace ordered. Duck went into the cabin to use the radio; Rev immediately took off into the air and circled the boat in an increasing arc, searching for any more flotsam in the water from above; Ace went up to the bow of the boat, scanning the horizon with his keen vision; Lexi went to one side of the boat and searched; Slam went towards the back end on the opposite side of Lexi for his own search; Tech went back up to the controls and restarted the boat at a slow pace, half-scanning the horizon and half-driving; and Sive went up with him and looked around, paying more attention than he was.

After about fifteen minutes and a call to the Coast Guard, who were no help at all, no one had seen anything else. They had traversed a wide area near where they had found the life preserver, traveling pretty far off of their original course in the process, and they figured that if there had been anything else to find, the strong current would have taken it away by then. Ace called Rev on their comm system and told him to come back in, and everyone relaxed a bit, but still were casting furtive glances over the water every so often.

There was a tense silence onboard the Loonatics' boat. They all knew that something bad had happened to the _Free Spirit_ and its occupants, but they didn't know what. The not knowing was what had them on edge, seeing as there were next to no logical conclusions to draw from the facts they had, which were few in number. This silence was why everyone flinched when Lexi suddenly loudly asked, "What is Rev _doing_?"

Lexi was the only one looking out in that direction, so everyone immediately ran to the other side of the boat to see what she was talking about. They were all just as flummoxed as Lexi, however, when they saw the roadrunner. He was still a couple hundred yards away from the boat, but he wasn't coming closer. Instead, he was flying around in a small circle low to the water, staying over the same spot. He would have been impossible to see if it weren't for the trail of flames he left behind him.

"Think dat's his way of tellin' us he found somethin'?" Ace asked.

"Let's go find out," Tech said as he steered the boat over towards Rev.

They pulled up alongside the spot Rev was circling, and once Tech cut the engine, letting the current take the boat again, Rev landed on the lower deck, already in the process of explaining himself and looking like he was getting very dizzy. "-and-then-I-got-your-message-Ace-so-I-started-heading-back-and-on-the-way-I-saw-something-in-the-water-and-I-thought-it-was-nothing-but-I-still-flew-a-little-lower-to-take-a-look-and-then-I-saw-it-and-it-was-too-big-to-carry-back-but-you-all-had-to-see-it-so-I-started-flying-around-and-around-and-"

"Rev! What did you see?" Lexi shouted over the seemingly never-ending maelstrom of words.

"Guys? You all need to see this!" Sive called down from the upper deck, leaning on the rail and pointing towards the water. She and Tech were morosely staring at the spot Rev had been circling over. Everyone else immediately went to the rail on the lower deck, looking out over the choppy water to see what held the attention of the two coyotes.

It was a large, fractured piece of lightweight plexiglass, made to look like wood. The words '-_e Spir_-" were emblazoned upon it in gold paint.

"Oh, no..." Lexi breathed, putting a hand over her mouth in shock.

"How could dis have happened?" Ace asked, letting his shock slip into his voice.

"The only scenarios that I can think of are either they hit someone else, which would have been reported, or their engine blew up, but with how the weather's been this week, someone would have seen the smoke," Tech reasoned.

"If we have to deal with any more killer fish that destroy boats, I'm going home," Duck declared sourly.

"Can't be; Adolpho's still in his fishbowl at the prison, and no one else has reported any strange sea-life," Ace stated. "I'll go call the Coast Guard- tell 'em this is now a recovery mission."

He turned away from the rail, heading for the cabin of the boat, but he never got there. Before he had taken five steps, the strong ocean current that had seemingly proved to doom the _Free Spirit_ made its presence known by slamming into the side of the Loonatics' boat. Everyone was thrown back into the railing, or, in Ace's case, roughly onto the deck as they were pushed sideways by the awesome might of the current.

Lexi and Duck grabbed onto Rev's belt as he overbalanced and almost fell overboard, and Slam had to help them pull him in. Ace didn't trust his balance, so he crawled over to the rail and used it to carefully pull himself up. Tech unwrapped his arm from around Sive's waist- the rail on the upper deck wasn't tall enough to prevent them from being flung out to sea, so he had used his magnetism to anchor them both- and he quickly yet carefully made his way back to the controls, wanting to turn the boat as soon as possible to avoid being capsized. It was already starting to alarmingly tilt to the right.

The boat started and straightened easily enough, it was getting it out of the current that was proving to be difficult. Once straightened, it didn't want to turn again at all, and it was moving at high speeds even though Tech wasn't giving it any gas. He was desperately struggling with the controls, even resorting to using his magnetism to try turning the steering wheel, but nothing seemed to work.

"Tech! What's goin' on?" Ace shouted up from below.

"We're stuck in the current, and I can't get us out!" he shouted back, never looking up from the controls. He was mentally berating himself the entire time; he had known where the current was, and shouldn't have let them drift far enough off course to get stuck in the middle of it. At its strongest point, it was strong enough to carry off their boat, and he had known it.

This continued for a couple of minutes. No one dared let go of their respective anchors for fear of not being able to grab on again, the choppy seas making this a frightening possibility, and Tech wasn't able to make any headway in getting the boat back on course as they moved farther and farther away at an increasing rate. The speedometer wasn't working right, seeing as they were literally being pushed to move at those speeds, but they all knew it was a lot faster than they wanted to be moving.

Tech wasn't particularly worried, though. He had studied maps of the area before, and knew that the current weakened a few miles up ahead, and there was nothing between here and there for them to hit. So long as he could keep them from being capsized, they would be alright. These thoughts kept him calm and level-headed as he physically struggled with the boat.

This tactic stopped working, however, when Sive anxiously interrupted his thoughts. "Uh, Tech?" she called. "They're not icebergs, but those rocks up ahead can probably do some damage!"

He snapped his head up the instant he had processed what she said, and was shocked to find that there were indeed large, black rocks jutting out of the sea. They were twenty feet high from sea level, and they were half again as wide as the boat. There were about eight of them, all directly in their path and ultimately unavoidable. By his quick calculations, with their approximate rate of acceleration and current speed, they only had about four minutes before impact.

Tech took one moment to take this in, another to panic, and another to calm himself down before attempting to devise a plan. He looked at the situation in a more analytical way, and quickly had an idea on how to keep everyone from getting killed on the rocks.

"Sive! I need your help with this!" he shouted to her over the wind as he started struggling with the steering wheel again, seeing how far he could get it to move on his own.

Sive snapped her gaze to him, then down to the rail she was holding so tight, she'd be surprised if she didn't leave dents. She took a moment to gather her courage, then started moving forward as fast as she felt she was able, moving hand-over-hand up the rail and shuffling her feet. Thankfully, she didn't have to go very far, and once she was within an arm's length of Tech, he reached over and pulled her to the controls where she instantly latched onto some gaps in the panels.

"Just tell me what to do," she said determinedly. If she was afraid, she didn't show it. They were both fairly collected, considering their situation- grace under pressure, and all that.

"Long story short- we need to turn the boat, if only by a few degrees, so the others can jump off safely," he explained quickly, for once skipping all of his science jargon and fine details about how angling the boat would allow them to escape the current by swimming, or how their point of trajectory would let them get around the rocks easily. "Once we hit the rocks, grab onto me and phase us through to the other side."

"I can do that," she responded shortly as she, too, started struggling with the wheel.

Tech looked over the rail at the others below, and yelled down to the one most likely to hear him. "Lexi!" he shouted. She perked up her ears and looked up at him, the previous green twinge to her face replaced by fear. "Tell everyone to move to the back of the boat and get ready to jump overboard when I say so! Swim _around_ the rocks! Hurry!" She nodded to show that she heard him, then turned to quickly relay the message to the others even as she started moving along the rail to the back.

Tech then turned his attention back to the wheel. Sive wasn't making any headway on her own, and they needed to move immediately, so he started right off the bat using both his magnetism and gripping the wheel and physically struggling with it. While he had made no progress on his own, with Sive's added help, they slowly but surely turned the wheel, about a degree or two every twenty seconds.

In times of stress, seconds can feel like hours. Those four minutes, however, went by like lightning, and almost before they knew it, the rocks were only several yards away. "Okay, Sive, just hold it here," Tech grunted, struggling to hold the wheel on its current course. Sive complied as best she was able. "When I tell them to jump, let go of the wheel and grab onto me. The force of the impact should sent us flying, so the second you feel your feet leave the ground, phase. Be ready for a hard landing." Not waiting for her reply, he looked up and stared at the approaching rocks, ready to turn and yell to the others at a moment's notice. They had succeeded in turning the boat a bit- the brunt of the impact would be on the front-left side of the boat, and the back left end would be free of the rocks and current. Once they were about three yards away, he sharply turned and yelled, "NOW!"

He was able to see them all jump (or in Rev's case, take off into the air,) and he felt Sive quickly and firmly grab onto his arm with both hands, but he didn't see them land. Not half a second after he yelled, they hit the rocks with enough force, Tech wondered if they hadn't somehow hit them head-on, and shuddered to imagine what it would have been like to have done so. The impact was enough to fling Sive and himself forward, and luckily for them, Sive's powers sent them through the controls, and through the rock they had hit. Everything went black for a moment as they were completely enveloped in the rock, and Tech had the strange ability to see the inside of the rock and feel it moving through him- or, rather, him through it- before they were again in the air on the other side. Sive lost her grip on Tech, but before either of them were able to realize this, they made a harsh water landing.

As soon as he stopped shooting downward, Tech started swimming upward as rapidly as he was able. He soon broke the surface, and took a deep breath as he did so, ignoring the taste of saltwater in his mouth. He treaded water as best as he was able in the strong waves; while they were out of the current, the wind still whipped up the waters, making swimming difficult. It was then that his and Sive's earlier conversation came crashing back into his memory.

"Sive!" he called out, hoping desperately for the other coyote to answer. "_Sive_!"

He was about to dive underwater to see if he could see her, but before he could, he heard someone break the surface behind him, coughing and desperately gasping for breath. He spun around, and, much to his relief, saw Sive spluttering and trying her best to keep her head above water not fifteen feet away. He swam over to her and helped her stay afloat by wrapping an arm around her and treading water with as much power as he could.

"You alright?" he asked once she had mostly caught her breath. He received a nod in response.

"Where…are the others?" he asked, still a little breathless.

"Around, hopefully," he responded, taking a look around and seeing nothing over the waves save for the tops of the rocks several yards away. "Hold on a second…see Rev anywhere?" he asked, switching tactics and looking up. There, in the distance, he could see the roadrunner flying around in wide circles, probably looking for his teammates. Tech lifted one hand in the air momentarily and sent a quick burst of his magnetic powers through it before going back to staying afloat. While this didn't affect anything, it did send off a flash of green light, and the roadrunner must have seen it because he immediately tore off in their direction.

It only took seconds for the distressed roadrunner to reach them, and he flew in quick, low, small circles around them so he could talk to them. "Oh-thank-goodness-I-was-starting-to-worry-about-you-two-especially-since-you-aren't-a-good-swimmer-and-all-Sive-but-I'm-glad-to-see-you're-both-okay-that-was-a-spectacular-crash-wasn't-it-the-others-are-all-really-worried-about-you-they-found-a-small-rock-over-where-I-was-circling-and-are-resting-on-it-over-there-we-should-probably-head-back-so-they-know-you're-okay-are-you-two-getting-dizzy-or-is-it-just-me?"

"Rev, why don't you head back there now so we know where we're going?" Tech recommended as the dizzy roadrunner flew off-course and almost made a splash landing. He thankfully took his advice without another word and flew off, again making wide, lazy circles in the air over their appointed destination. "You can tell how worried he is by how often he switches subjects…" he murmured. "Anyway, do you think you can make it, Sive? It's not that far…"

"Nah, I'm fine," she replied dismissively. "Let's get a move on."

Sive could be very stubborn when she wanted to be, but she knew when she needed help, so she didn't try to shake Tech off as he continued to help her stay afloat in the choppy water. At that point, they were both helping each other a little- the wind had picked up, making the water that much less ideal for swimming. It didn't take them particularly long to get within sight of the small rock just barely jutting out of the surface, and they were both relieved to see the rest of their teammates gathered around, or in some cases, on it, and the others looked equally relieved to see them. Once they reached it, Tech let go of Sive and latched onto the rock in between Ace and Slam, and Lexi helped pull Sive up onto the surface of the rock with her. Rev landed next to the girls not long after, and all of them took a moment to just rest and catch their breath. They could see the rock they had crashed on from there; their boat, however, was either below the water or floating around in pieces.

"…I think I know what happened to the _Free Spirit_…" Duck grumbled after a moment.

"No kidding," Sive deadpanned.

"So, what now?" Lexi asked. "Wait for the Coast Guard to realize we're gone and come looking for us?"

"We were so far off course, when they finally do realize we're gone, it'll be a while before they look for us all the way out here, if they even _do_ look out here," Tech stated grimly. "That was my fault, guys; I should've paid closer attention to where we were drifting. I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Tech; it wasn't your fault," Ace said reassuringly. "How could anyone have known these rocks were out here?"

"Rocks-like-these-are-pretty-uncommon-for-the-middle-of-the-ocean-and-we-did-all-think-that-there-wasn't-anything-out-here-but-here-they-are-and-while-they-are-common-around-islands-and-such-the-one-over-there-is-uncharted-I-believe-so-you-really-can't-"

"Wait. What island?" Tech asked, pulling himself up on the rock a bit and looking around.

"There's-one-over-there-about-250-yards-away-but-I-guess-it-is-hard-to-see-from-here-with-the-waves-and-all-but-I-can-see-it-from-the-air-and-it-looks-fairly-large-for-an-uncharted-island-so-it-surprised-me-a-little," Rev stated.

"Well, at least we have somewhere to go now," Tech said, "because we definitely can't stay here."

"De only question is, how do we get dere?" Ace asked. "It'll be hard to swim dere on our own steam."

Slam tentatively poked Ace's shoulder to get his attention, then pointed to something out on the water. It was a small cluster of debris from their ship, mostly pieces of plexiglass, floating above the water and showing no sign of sinking soon.

"Dat's a great idea, Slam!" Ace commended. "Alright, everyone grab onto somethin' and use it like a kickboard. We'll get dere in no time!"

'No time' quickly proved to be a bit longer than Ace thought, but using their makeshift kickboards, they were all able to make their way to the island, following Rev before it steadily grew on the horizon.

**A/N: A little rushed at the end, I know, but it's almost 11 o'clock. I'm tired, and I'm going to bed. Next chapter- introduce some bad guys! XD **

**R&R!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I am convinced all of my teachers meet during lunch just to plan out how to make my day suck… DX I barely had time to type at all, so it's a miracle this got up in time. The next one should also be up on time, but no guarantees due to semester finals. AP Art History is going to kick my ask… Anywho, I lied last chapter- the baddies don't come in until next chapter. They were supposed to be here, but then this chapter would have been unbearably long and I never would have gotten it up in time. I seem to be able to type about 1K words per week… Ah, well, this story's under the Suspense category, right? XD**

It took the better part of two hours for them to reach the large island, following Rev up in the sky as he led them to it. The approaching storm quickly got closer, and the winds got even stronger than before, billowing about at almost impossibly high speeds and kicking up the already high waves even further. They had gotten there just in time; any longer and they would've been swept under, unable to keep themselves afloat.

Once they had been able to see the island over the crests of the waves, Rev had gone on ahead to see what the island was like and see if he could find any other boats around. He planned to stay in the air for as long as the weather would allow him to. The others reached the island with enough time left over to catch their breaths and get bored waiting for him to come back.

From what they had seen of the island on their trip in, there was dense greenery covering its entirety and sheer cliffs surrounding the perimeter making it almost impossible to get ashore. However, there was a small inlet that was just barely visible from a distance, and as they got closer, they joyfully realized that it was a small, sandy beach, so that was where they came ashore, letting their pieces of floating debris from their boat float away in the rough surf. They couldn't go much farther, though; the beach was surrounded by cliffs on both sides, a steep incline behind them, and nothing even remotely looking like a trail in sight. Tech, Slam and Ace were looking for one, but without much luck. Duck had quacked to the top of the cliffs, leaving the girls alone to rest.

"Well, this is fun," Lexi stated sarcastically. She was lying down in the sand next to Sive, her hands intertwined behind her head and staring up at the angry clouds above.

"Beats being in the water, though," Sive commented as a particularly large wave crashed ashore and almost came up far enough to get their feet wet, which spoke volumes of the sizes of the waves considering how they were sitting more than half way up the beach.

"This is true. At least it's warm, though." Lexi turned on to her side to face Sive. She was lying on her back, hands crossed on her middle, staring pensively up at the increasingly dark clouds above them. "Something on your mind?"

Sive took a moment to think of an answer. "I think I'm just being paranoid, but… Something about all of this isn't sitting right with me."

"Is there anything about this that _could_ sit right?" Lexi asked jokingly.

"No I mean… This is a fairly isolated island, right? Don't seagulls always inhabit islands, especially when there isn't any other land nearby?" At this seemingly random question, Lexi focused on her hearing and realized with surprise that there weren't any of the annoyingly loud birds within her hearing range. She hadn't even noticed their absence. "And then what about those rocks? Those don't just spring up overnight- why weren't they on any map? And for that matter, how can an island this large and relatively close to trade routes and a tourist area possibly be uncharted?" Sive sat up and shook her head confusedly, rubbing her temple. "I think all this salt water's going to my head. There's probably a reasonable explanation for this, there always is. …Well, usually, anyways."

Even though Sive was dismissing it, Lexi thought about it further in the ensuing silence and realized that her friend was onto something. Nothing about this made much sense. Until she had more information, though, she had no idea what to think. Nothing she came up with made any sense. She was pulled from her musings when she heard the boys walking up to them, returning from their search for a trail up the cliff. She also heard Duck approaching from the top of the cliff.

Ace reached them first, and he plopped down onto the sand next to Lexi. "We found some kinda trail, if ya can even call it dat," he said to answer the unspoken question. "It's a bit of a climb up, but I think we can make it. It's not as steep, and dere are a bunch of hand and foot holds that'll make for an easy climb to da top."

"That's good; I'm not up for a rock climbing expedition after that swim," Lexi said, leaning against Ace when he wrapped his arm around her. They had all been pretty shaken by the day's events, so she welcomed the contact.

Slam plopped himself down next to Ace and grunted an agreement to Lexi's comment. Tech moved as if to sit next to Sive, only for Duck to suddenly quack in about a foot off the ground and land in a purposeful sitting position next to her, spraying her with sand and prompting an indignant "Oi!" Lexi noted with mild amusement and interest that Tech shot an annoyed look at Duck before sitting down next to him.

"Did ya find anythin' worth talking' 'bout, Duck?" Ace asked conversationally.

"Unless plants suddenly became an interesting topic of conversation, no," he retorted, annoyed with what he found, or the apparent lack thereof. "It's a jungle up there; the forest is so dense, I can't see more than twenty feet away. There's a trail of some sort, but I didn't follow it very far. It just leads to more jungle. No animals, though- kind of weird when you think about it."

Lexi and Sive shot each other a look at that, but both kept silent, neither finding reason to share their inconclusive, possibly over-paranoid thoughts with the others. No reason to make their situation seem any worse than it already was, difficult as that may be.

"Where's Rev, anyways?" Duck continued. "Shouldn't that red motor mouth be back by now?"

"He'll be here any second now, I'm sure," Lexi said firmly.

"I hope so; da wind's pickin' up," Ace stated with slight unease, looking up at the darkening clouds above as they moved faster and faster away.

"Rev's fine," Tech stated. "He would've called us by now if he-" He stopped short, staring straight ahead with a blank expression for a split second, before burying his face in his hands and hanging his head. "I feel incredibly stupid right now."

"That's a first," Duck muttered dryly.

"What is it, Tech?" Ace asked.

Instead of verbally replying, Tech raised one hand and pointed to the green device on his gauntlet- his comm. unit. The same type that everyone else had in their respective colors. The thing that was like a mobile, fairly sturdy satellite phone.

Everyone else felt equally stupid.

Tech allowed himself another moment of feeling like a complete idiot before actually using his comm. to try contacting the Coast Guard. No matter how lazy they were, they were the only ones who could help them reasonably quickly at that point. However, the call didn't go through- all he got was static interference. He tried calling Zadavia with the same result.

"Maybe it got damaged...?" he offered to his equally perplexed teammates, giving it a scrutinizing glance. "Somebody else try theirs."

Ace tried his, but with similar results; an unending static storm on the other line. "Dat's…not good. Maybe mine also got damaged…?"

"Unlikely," Tech replied shortly as he opened up his comm. and looked at the internals of the device. Everything seemed to be in working order, and no water had gotten in. He looked up as four more bursts of static interrupted the relative quiet of the beach, and saw the increasing unease on his teammates' faces as they, too, found their comms. inoperable.

"How is this possible?" Lexi asked, mirroring the examining look that everyone else was giving their comms. "They can't all be damaged beyond functionality…maybe we're out of call range…? No, wait, they're satellite…"

"Which means something's jamming them," Sive stated matter-of-factly. "Great. And today has been going so well…"

"Odds are it's just coincidence," Tech stated calmly. "Certain minerals can divert satellite communications, and there could be deposits on this island. Or the geographic makeup could bounce them around- the elevation could be high enough for that. The storm may even be screwing with it if there's a lot of lighting up high where we can't see." Sive noted that despite his words, he didn't seem totally convinced. No one else seemed completely reassured by his words, either.

"Here's some good news," Duck interjected. "I see Rev." Everyone turned their eyes to the sky, and were very relieved to see the contrasting streak of bright orange flame against the blackening clouds signaling Rev's arrival. He seemed to be having trouble staying exactly on-course in the blowing winds, but seemed to be alright. A few minutes later, he made a shaky landing on the beach when a sudden gust of wind threw him off balance right as he would have touched the ground. He ended up sliding a bit, but still managed to stay on his feet.

"Wow-this-wind-is-incredible-I've-never-seen-anything-like-it-not-even-when-we-fought-Weathervane-well-okay-that-might-be-a-bit-of-a-stretch-but-I-can-barely-even-fly-straight-I'm-a-bird-we're-not-built-for-flying-in-these-conditions-not-that-I'm-techinically-built-for-flying-at-all-but-"

"Rev!" Lexi and Sive shouted simultaneously to get the ranting roadrunner to stop talking, if only for a moment.

"Did ya see anythin'?" Ace asked just short of eagerly. "Any boats? The general direction to Acmetropolis from here? Anythin'?"

"No-sorry-I-didn't-see-anything-no-boat-no-birds-no-land-nothing-and-I-can't-even-tell-which-way-Acmetropolis-is-from-here-so-I-can't-fly-back-not-that-I'd-leave-you-guys-anyways-and-I-suppose-I-could-use-my-GPS-but-did-you-guys-try-calling-anyone-or-something?"

"Yeah, we only thought of that right before you got here," Lexi admitted sheepishly.

"Something on this stupid island is jamming our comms, though," Duck stated sourly, prompting a mildly alarmed look from Rev.

"Rev, do you think you could fly out of range of whatever's jamming the comm. system and call for help?" Tech asked.

"Well-in-theory-sure-but-not-until-this-storm-blows-over-because-the-winds-are-still-picking-up-even-though-it-doesn't-seem-possible-and-I've-flown-around-so-much-today-I-wouldn't-make-it-very-far-anyway-so-we'll-need-to-wait-a-while," Rev explained as he sat down next to Tech.

"Darn," Sive huffed, earning an agreeing nod from most of the others. Not a moment later, they were all shielding their eyes as a particularly strong gust of wind sent sand flying up and around them. They all stood up and shook themselves off after it all settled; sand and fur or feathers weren't a good mix. "I'm thinking we should maybe head inland and find some kind of shelter before it starts getting really ugly out here."

"Oh-that-reminds-me-I-almost-forgot-how-could-I-almost-forget-that?" Rev asked himself, looking like he had an I-feel-like-a-moron moment just like the others had. "I-flew-all-the-way-around-the-island-and-this-place-is-really-big-and-there-are-lots-of-cliffs-and-canyons-and-rivers-and-jungle-and-forest-and-brush-and-all-that-but-on-the-far-side-a-couple-miles-away-from-here-there-was-this-big-clearing-and-in-that-big-clearing-there-was-this-_really_-big-house-and-I-thought-it-would-be-abandonded-but-it-looked-pretty-modern-and-I-saw-a-bunch-of-dogs-in-a-fenced-in-area-so-that-probably-means-we're-not-alone-here-right?"

"…How could you possibly forget that?" Duck spluttered in outrage after a moment of stunned silence.

"Well-I-did-get-an-impromtu-interrogation-the-second-I-got-here-so-it-just-slipped-my-mind," Rev stated, somewhere between sheepish and angry.

"Well, now we at least have somewhere ta go," Ace said optimistically as he stood up and started heading for the 'path' in the rocks, closely followed by the others. "If we're lucky, dey have a phone we can use. If we're really lucky, dey might have a boat and can give us a lift back ta Acmetropolis."

"Yes, because our luck has been absolutely _perfect_ so far," Duck said, voice dripping with sarcasm. The others opted to ignore Duck's special brand of pessimism, especially when Slam asked something that sounded like 'other boaters'.

"Oh, yeah! Maybe they know something about the _Free Spirit_," Lexi agreed. "With those rocks where they are, this can't be the first time they've had someone wash up here. They've probably seen some debris, at the very least."

"We'll have ta ask 'em," Ace said as he started climbing up with little effort, Lexi following him. There were little nooks and crevices perfectly spaced to act as hand and foot holds, so it really was an easy climb. "Though ya have ta wonder about 'em if dey live out here…"

"I bet they're creeps," Duck stated, following up behind Lexi.

"Duck, we know you're unhappy with what's happened, but why don't you keep the pessimism to yourself?" Sive asked up to the mallard, who shot her a half-hearted glare in response. He then realized exactly what he was doing and proceeded to quack the rest of the way up.

"A-little-solitary-maybe-put-the-place-looked-normal-enough-to-me-and-yet-looks-can-be-decieving-but-that-doesn't-mean-they're-too-weird-or-anything," Rev commented as he waited for the wind to die down a bit before putting on a quick burst of fast flight and landing on the edge of the cliff above.

Slam started up next, and in the interest of not getting squished should he fall, the two coyotes waited until he reached the top before they started climbing the fairly short, 20 foot cliff face.

"Hey, Sive? Is it just me, or is something…not sitting right about all this?" Tech asked once Slam was about halfway up, and just barely out of earshot.

"Oh, good, I thought Duck's pessimism was becoming contagious," she said, sounding mock-relieved. "That, or I had extreme paranoia… But something is definitely wrong about this. No animals, those rocks and this island all uncharted, no comm. service, and now people live on this, I repeat_, uncharted _island? It's a little far-fetched."

"I agree." He paused for a moment as Slam reached the top and was helped up by Rev and Ace. Tech then started climbing up, and he was closely followed by Sive. "I have a feeling these people may not be…amicable. We should keep an eye out, just in case. Especially since the others don't seem to sense that anything's wrong."

They both paused momentarily and looked up as thunder boomed overhead. It still sounded a bit of a ways off, but it was a little too close for comfort. "Lexi thinks something's up, too; we just didn't want to unnecessarily worry anyone."

"Ditto."

"Then why did you say anything to me?" Sive asked good-naturedly as Tech reached the top and easily pulled himself up.

"Uh, well…" Tech began nervously, turning around and watching Sive climb up the last couple of yards. "It's just…good to have more than one set of eyes on the lookout." He didn't feel the need to protect her by warning her of the possible danger. Not at all.

He reached down and pulled her up when she reached the top, and only then did they both look at the scenery around them. There was indeed very dense forest, borderline jungle-like, filled with trees, tall grass, and many different kinds of plants, many of which, Tech noted, couldn't possibly have grown there naturally- they would have to have been introduced to the environment. Following their teammates, Duck showed them where he had found the trail on his earlier search of the area. It wasn't even a pathway beaten in by being walked on frequently; it was just a continuous patch about two feet wide that was more dirt and weeds than grass where nothing else had decided to grow.

"It's better than nothing," Lexi admitted. "Rev, which direction is the house in from here?"

"Oh-yeah-it's-" He cut off suddenly, his eyes glowing red, signifying that he was using his GPS. He had a confused look on his face that remained there as his eyes stopped glowing. "That's odd…" he said slowly, his obvious confusion leaking into his voice and slowing his speech.

"What's up?" Ace asked, giving the roadrunner a worried glance.

"Well…my-GPS-doesn't-seem-to-be-working-which-is-just-plain-weird-this-hasn't-happened-before-how-could-that-be-happening?" Rev asked, looking all the more perplexed as he tried using his GPS again to no avail. "Everything-looks-all-staticky-when-I-try-like-looking-at-a-screen-and-I-can't-make-out-anything-I-wonder-why-that-is-maybe-I'm-broken?"

"I highly doubt that you're broken, Rev," Tech stated, though a knowing look was passed between Sive, Lexi, and himself. "Do you remember which way the house was?"

"That-way," the still confused and slightly dazed roadrunner stated, pointing North, Northwest.

"Alright, dat way it is," Ace said, taking the lead and following the path. It was close enough to their intended direction that they felt comfortable following the path.

Not that they all felt comfortable to begin with. Sive felt more and more unease the further they walked, the dead quiet of the forest, punctured only by the occasional thunder and distant sound of trees falling in the wind, rang in her ears. She became even more suspicious of the island's inhabitants when they crossed over a sturdy, wooden, well-made bridge going over a river that looked like something out of a Home and Garden magazine. By the sound of it, they were fairly well-to-do, which prompted the question of why they would be living out there. Sure, there were plenty of eccentric people among the rich, but wasn't the purchase of a private island usually documented?

The walk was indeed a few miles, but it didn't take them that long. That may have had to do with the fact that they started jogging at around the halfway mark when lightning flashed overhead and it just barely started misting. When they came within sight of the house, it was at a heavy drizzle, but the trees had protected them from the rain.

It was like standing in two different worlds. They stepped out of the line of trees, and all of a sudden, the area was clear of foliage. The grass was trimmed, the area fairly picturesque in better weather, and surrounded on all but one side by cliffs with long drops to the angry seas below. The trees and dense foliage ended suddenly in a straight line, separating the two areas like a wall. The most prominent feature, however, was definitely the 'house,' if it could be called that. It was simply huge, and it looked more like a three story mansion, with a large, 15 foot metal fence surrounding it on all but the front side. Dogs could be heard barking behind the house. The walls were made of stone, there were large, barred windows and double doors made of wood, and the black roof was on a barely-noticeable incline. The place looked like a castle. Or an impregnable fortress.

"It-looked-smaller-from-the-air," Rev said in wonderment as they all took a moment to take in the mansion before taking off at a run across the clearing as the rain picked up.

They came to some stone steps that led up to an overhang in front of the door, and they all stood there a moment, catching their breath and watching as the rain picked up to such a strong pace, it would probably hurt to stand in it. Lightning flashed every few seconds, but the thunder cracks were fewer and further between. Based on the noise level, there was no way that the storm was completely overhead yet.

"No doorbell," Ace stated after a quick look around at the large doors. They looked to be made of some type of old wood, which was an uncommon building material for that time. There were large, ornate knockers that looked as though they were made of bronze, and looked like lions that would snap at your hand if you attempted to use them. "Looks like we're doin' dis de old fashioned way, den."

He picked up one of the knockers, unsurprisingly heavy, and let it fall with a resounding _boom_ that rivaled that of the thunder.

**A/N: Is it cruel of me to end there? XD Yeah, probably, but I'm not exactly known to be a nice person. Ah, well, next chapter will be more interesting! Bad guys get introduced, and the plot starts getting nice and thick! R&R!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Happy Holidays, everyone! I made sure to get this up today as a Christmas gift to anyone who reads this. This almost didn't get up due to extreme lack of sleep due to health related issues, but as long as I'm still kicking, chapters will get up…relatively on time! XD **

**And, as promised, bad guys are introduced here! You may recognize one from the prologue… The rest of them will be introduced in the next chapter. And I took some liberties with their names… I was in a silly mood while writing this outline and put some jokes into some of their names. Cookies to anyone who finds them! XP**

**Translations are, as always, at the bottom marked by their respective asterisks.**

They waited after Ace dropped the knocker, not expecting whoever lived there to get to the door right away. None of them were sure what to expect from the people that lived there, so they stood in apprehensive silence. The tension built more and more the longer they waited. However, it almost visibly dissipated after almost ten minutes and not a squeak from in the mansion.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Sive stated dryly.

"Maybe-no-one's-home?" Rev suggested.

"What if it's abandoned?" Lexi asked earnestly, giving the place a once-over to look for any signs of dilapidation.

"Not with those dogs out back, it's not," Tech reminded her.

"Can ya hear anythin' from inside, Lex?" Ace asked.

"No; the walls are too thick."

"Well, we can't stay out here," Duck stated as the wind billowed about strong enough to send a copious amount of rain under the shelter of the overhang. "What if I quacked inside and opened the door?"

"Uh, yeah," Sive scoffed. "You know, there's this thing called 'breaking and entering.' And I thought _I_ was the questionably legal one..."

"Dey wouldn't leave da dogs out in da middle of a storm if dey weren't gonna be home, though..." Ace stated mostly to himself, thinking out loud as ignored his bickering teammates and lifted the knocker again, letting it fall a second time. It fell with another resounding bang, and all was silent again save for the storm.

This time, they weren't disappointed. Not a minute later, they heard the sound of a number of heavy locks being undone before the old, wooden door slowly creaked open just enough to admit the person on the other side.

That didn't mean it opened just a crack, though; the one who stepped through was a monster of a man. Taller than any of the Loonatics and nearly twice as wide as Slam, he fell under the category of 'people you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.' His face was devoid of any type of hair, and he had large ears that would have appeared comical if he wasn't scowling at them, his dark eyes glinting in a flash of lightning.

"Uh... Hi dere!" Ace greeted cheerily after a moment's hesitation, hiding his unease well. "We were wonderin' if we could get some help. Ya see, we crashed our boat out on some rocks and came ashore here, and we, ah..." He trailed off as the man's stare didn't let up, showing no sign of acknowledging anything Ace had said.

"Wer bist du? Was ist Ihr Geschäft hier?"* the man barked suddenly, thoroughly startling everyone, and confusing all but one.

"Wir sind die Loonatics-Gruppe aus Acmetropolis,"** Tech replied without missing a beat, mildly amused at the gobsmacked looks he received from his teammates. "Wir krachten unser Boot auf den Felsen und benötige Hilfe." -*-

"Sie sprechen Deutsch?"*** the man asked, surprise barely evident in his voice, but his face remained the same.

"Ja, fließend. Können Sie uns helfen?"+ Tech asked again.

The man appraised them a moment before replying, giving them a not-so-subtle once over. Deciding they were alright, he quickly barked, "Hereinkommen" before stepping back inside.

"He said to come in," Tech quickly translated before following the other inside, closely followed by his still dumbfounded teammates.

They stepped into a parlor of sorts that contrasted greatly with the exterior of the building. There were light crème colored tiles on the floor that contrasted with the peach wallpaper, and a yellow-ish light came from a small chandelier-type fixture. There was a large coat closet on one side, a small table on the other, and even a little umbrella stand by the door. It was fairly large, for a parlor, and separated from the rest of the house by another set of smaller, less imposing wooden doors. It seemed...homey.

"Warten sie hier,"(*) the man ordered curtly. He looked out of place in the cozy room, not that anyone would say that out loud. They remained quiet as he abruptly turned and walked into the house, closing the door behind him.

"…What was _that_?" Lexi asked Tech after a moment of stunned silence.

"German," Tech replied matter-of-factly. "He said he doesn't speak English. Doesn't seem to say much at all, really..."

"Since when do you speak German?" Duck asked.

"Middle school."

"Did he say anythin' worth mentionin'?" Ace asked, skipping to the important stuff.

"Not really. He didn't seem to know who we were, though, even after I told him," Tech stated, a surprised look being passed around at that. There weren't many people in the general Acmetropolis area who didn't know who they were- that meant that the island had to have been fairly isolated, both in location and in media, in order for their strange host not to have recognized them.

Before anyone else could say anything, though, the door the man had walked into opened again, and two people walked in. The cross German man walked in, staying by the door, closely followed by a second man. He was older than the first, but shorter and not as large. He was barrel-chested, and fairly built for his age that was only betrayed by his thinning, salt and pepper hair and thin-rimmed glasses. He had a full moustache and beard, and was wearing a sweater and slacks in contrast to his stern companion's darker, plain garb. He appeared extremely surprised when he first walked in and saw the Loonatics, but quickly took on a more jovial appearance, amiably walking forward and smiling so wide that Duck idly wondered if his face would break. It only served to further unsettle Lexi and the two coyotes, though.

"Vell vell!" he said amicably in a heavy German accent, holding out his hand to give Tech, the closest of their number, a firm, bone crushing handshake. "It's not often ve receive guests all ze vay out here, much less ze famous Loonatics!" At least this guy knew who they were- not that all of the Loonatics' number thought this was a good thing.

"Oh, ya speak English!" Ace said relievedly, returning the offered handshake as Tech idly shook out his hand.

"But of course!" the bespectacled man replied, moving down the line and shaking all of the guys' hands and giving the girls gentlemanly, two-handed, light handshakes. "I apologize for my friend; he only shpeaks German, you see, as does his brother. Zey came vith me from Germany, and never quite got ze hand of English."

"And you are...?" Duck started, rubbing his injured hand.

"Vere are my manners today? I am Colonel Von Toofreefuhr of ze German National Air Force, retired," the Colonel said with a flourish. "And my friend here is Georg, ex-army. Ve heard you knocking, but thought it vas ze thunder. Like I said, it's not often ve have guests." He turned and nodded to Georg, who left without a word, before giving the Loonatics a questioning look. "If I may ask, vhat brings you all ze vay out here? And I believe Georg said something about you needing help…?"

"We got stuck in the current and crashed our boat on some rocks," Tech explained. "We saw the island in the distance and swam here."

"Ah, yes, zat current has been ze end of more boats zan you may think- it makes ze area impossible to chart," the Colonel stated regretfully. Tech gave him an odd look at that last comment, but stayed quiet. "Most aren't as lucky as you; ve usually only see debris from ze crash. Vat vere you doing out zere to get stuck in ze current, though?"

"There's a search going on for some missing boaters, and we strayed a little off-course," Lexi admitted.

"I'm afraid I can't help you zere- ze last time ve saw any evidence of a crash here vas...months ago." He paused as a particularly loud crack of thunder made itself heard through the thick walls. "Zere probably von't be much to find after zis storm, though... Anyway, you said you needed help. Vhat can I do for you?"

"Our phones aren't workin' for some reason, so we were just hopin' to borrow a phone or somethin' so we can call for help from da mainland," Ace stated, starting to get a bit unsettled himself at how quickly the Colonel changed from somber back to jovial and amicable.

"Ve don't have phones here- something on ze island scrambles communications. I can do you vone better, though," he informed jovially. "Ve have a boat zat ve use for supply runs to ze mainland. My other companions are using it now, but zey should be on zere vay here from ze dock now, and vonce zey arrive, you are free to use it."

"Really? We don't want to impose…" Lexi began courteously.

"Think nothing of it! It's our pleasure," the Colonel reassured. "Better letting you borrow ze boat zan being stuck here! Living somewhere so isolated is an…acquired taste."

"Is-it-just-you-two-and-Georg's-brother-living-here-it-seems-like-a-big-place-for-just-three-people," Rev asked, thoroughly baffling Georg with his speed and causing the Colonel to pause for a moment to think about exactly what he had been asked before replying.

"No, zere are a few others living here vith us- six total, including myself. Ve are all old war vets who vanted to…pursue our interests, let's say, somewhere more private," the Colonel explained. Tech and Sive both frowned at the cryptic note. "But vhat are ve doing still standing in ze parlor? Come in, come in!" He theatrically waved them over and opened the doors leading to the inside of the house, and they all followed him through and were promptly floored.

The place was _huge._ The parlor led to a massive entry hall that spanned a good 30 feet across and went about halfway down the length of the house. There was a long, maroon carpet going from one end of the room to another, and continuing up the garish, old style staircase at the end of the hall that led to the upper floors. There were two hallways going in opposite directions at the foot of the staircase, but only a few doors in the actual entry hall. There was a large fireplace on one wall flanked by two doors, one on each side, and four more doors opposite. All were made of wood, though not nearly as gaudy as the ones they had encountered so far. The floor and walls were all made of stone matching the type outside the house, and the ceiling a few stories above appeared to be made of synthetic timber. All this wasn't what caught the Loonatics' attention, though- it was what was hanging on the walls.

Animals. Lots and lots of animals. They were all stuffed and expertly taxidermied, ranging from heads to full body mounts to the flowing tails of exotic birds. There were even a few elephant tusks, rhino horns, and moose antlers. They were situated in a medley of poses, mostly something natural or aggressive. There were buffalo, deer, large lizards, numerous birds, big cats…it would have been easier to say what _wasn't_ on the wall. Each of the Loonatics shuddered as they found a mount of their own respective species.

"So, do you guys, ah…like hunting?" Lexi asked, managing to only sound slightly nervous.

"No, ve don't like hunting… Ve _live_ for it," the Colonel replied with relish, walking slowly up the hall and gazing at the mounts. "Ve've hunted every single animal zat is legal to hunt. Ve live for ze thrill of a fight; the rush of ze kill. Zat is how ve all met- through hunting. Ve have gotten so good at it, though, ze rush is harder and harder to get; an easy kill is no fun. Ve have vays of fixing zat, though. Ah, but look at ze time!" he exclaimed as he took a quick peek at his watch. "I have some business to attend to. You are free to look around, just don't go outside or in ze cellar- ze dogs aren't exactly tame. I recommend ze library; it's to ze left, fifth door down. Vhen ze others arrive, ve vill meet you zere. If you vill excuse me." He went down a hallway to the right, and was gone.

The Loonatics stayed in the entry hall for another moment, too shocked to move. Their eyes were glued to the eyes staring back at them from the walls. Eventually, Sive shook her head and snapped everyone else out of it by saying, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to leave the Hall of Horrors and head for that library." The others followed suit, leaving behind the hundreds of fake, lifeless animals and their equally dead, forever staring eyes.

**A/N: Creepy, no? XD The next chapter will probably be up around New Year's- I'm going on another road trip this week! (I do those really often, don't I? XD) Anywho, look forward to the next chapter! And after that… Stuff starts getting serious! **

**R&R!**

*Who are you? What is your business here?

**We are the Loonatics- a group from Acmetropolis.

-*-We crashed our boat on some rocks and need some help.

***You speak German?

+Yes, fluently. Can you help us?

(*)Wait here.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I did say **_**around **_**New Year's, didn't I? XD I had a lot of trouble getting this up- our puppy's being a little black and white hellion. HE ATE MY PHONE! =( He hasn't given me a free moment. You can't take your eyes off him…otherwise you may lose a finger.**

**Like I promised, the rest of the bad guys are introduced here. Well, all but 1, but he isn't that important. This is a particularly long chapter. I debated chopping it into two, but then one would have seemed like all filler and the other would have been short, so I just decided to leave it as one long one. The fun starts happening next chapter… *evil laughter***

The library was just as monumental as the rest of the house. It was probably two stories from floor to ceiling, with large windows offering what would have been a picturesque view over the cliff, had it not been raining. All of the walls were lined with books, save for the area around the massive fireplace. More stuffed animals lined the walls, though it wasn't anything like the horde in the entry hall, and these seemed to be mostly avians, much to Rev's and Duck's discomfort.

It was really more of an old style drawing room than a library. While there were thousands of books, there were also numerous other activities. A mahjong table was set up near one window, a card table near another. An elaborate chessboard was near the fireplace, and an old dice game was set up near the door. There was even a folded up ping pong table resting against one wall.

Upon finding the Library, the Loonatics had split up into groups doing different activities. Ace, Lexi, and Slam had settled into an animated game of Go Fish at the card table. Tech was inspecting the mahjong table and its intricately carved pieces. Duck had roped Sive in for a chess game, convinced that if there was anyone he could beat, it would be her. Rev had watched their many fast paced games. It was quiet, the only noise coming from the conversation at the card table and the raging storm outside.

That is, until Duck yelled, "CHEATER!" at the top of his lungs, prompting raucous laughter from Sive and Rev and making the other occupants of the room jump in their seats and shoot glares at the mallard.

"It's kinda hard to cheat at chess, Duck," Sive said once she had recovered from her laughing fit. It started again when she saw the look of utter grief on Duck's face as he forlornly stared at his fallen king. He then shot murderous looks at both Sive and the bishop that had taken his king.

"That-was-awesome-Sive-how-do-you-always-win-so-fast-and-where-did-you-learn-to-play-like-that?" Rev asked.

"A friend of mine named Maggie taught me back in New Chicago. Everything I know I learned from her, and she's surprisingly good. Her rule was that if you could beat her, you'd never have to pay for anything at her place again. Needless to say, no one ever beat her." She started resetting the board, putting each black and white piece back in its place since it appeared as though Duck had no inclination to. "And to answer your other question, Duck's just really bad at chess."

Duck's indignant "Hey!" was accompanied by more laughs from Rev.

"C'mon, let's go another round! I refuse to admit defeat!" Duck exclaimed.

"Would it change your mind if I pointed out the fact that we'd be playing best of 40?" Sive asked dryly.

Duck's eyes widened in surprise, and he spluttered unintelligibly for a moment before sagging in defeat. He then proceeded to get up and leave the table, grumbling something about sneaky coyotes. He grabbed a random book off of a shelf and practically launched himself into an easy chair on the other end of the room.

"How about you, Rev? You up for a game?" Sive asked as she finished setting up the board and noticed her lack of opponent.

"Nah-I-know-when-I-can't-win-and-besides-chess-isn't-really-my-cup-of-tea-I'm-more-of-a-checkers-kind-of-guy," Rev said as he sprang to his feet. "I-actually-think-that-I'll-go-join-the-Go-Fish-game-do-you-wanna-come?"

"No, I'm good," Sive replied, Rev zipping off to join the game as they were just starting a new hand. Sive had never liked cards much, though growing up where she did had given her the knowledge on how to cheat at almost any card game, making her practically unbeatable. Winning didn't make it enjoyable, though.

"Best of 40?" asked a voice behind Sive. She turned around to see Tech approaching with a bemused look on his face. "We've been here for an hour and a half. How have you had time for twenty games already?"

"Like I said, he's really bad," Sive reiterated amusedly, smiling sweetly as Duck glared at her from across the room and laughing when he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Mind if I join you for a game?" Tech asked as he sat down in the recently vacated seat across from Sive.

"_You_ I don't think I stand a chance against," Sive stated honestly, but nevertheless moved a pawn to start the game.

"Chess isn't exactly my forte, either," Tech replied modestly, retaliating by trapping her pawn with one of his.

"That may be, but it's all about anticipating your opponent's next moves, and something tells me that you're _really_ good at that," Sive stated dryly as she took another move and Tech took one of her pawns without hesitating.

"Maybe a little," he agreed jokingly as he removed the fallen chess piece. He examined it as Sive made her move, turning it over in his hand and feeling all of the contours of the unique piece. "This is a really nice chess set. Is this real ivory?"

"Maybe. I'm not the one to ask about that kind of thing," Sive replied, capturing one of Tech's knights and examining it briefly before setting it aside, having already looked at the set while playing with Duck.

"I think it is. And I think mine are actual ebony," Tech said distractedly, briefly examining one of his pawns before putting it back on the board. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get your hands on this stuff? These pieces alone must have cost a fortune, to say nothing of the board."

"What about it?" Sive asked, giving the board itself another quick look while making her move.

"The black squares are obsidian, which isn't really anything special, but the white ones look like mother of pearl." He captured one of her pawns as she stared at the board in surprise. "Why would anyone pay that much for a chessboard, though? I could understand it if they wanted to show it off, but why spend so much if no one's going to see it but yourself?"

"It's not just the board, though- this whole place seems pretty extravagant," Sive pointed out as she captured one of his rooks.

"I agree. Building something that looks like a 16th century castle in this particular location must have run into the tens or hundreds of millions, to say nothing of these furnishings. That mahjong table over there alone probably costs more than everything in my lab, and all of these mounts probably equal the cost of our training room and its upkeep for the next century," Tech stated, giving the animals in the room a wary glance.

"Who would want to buy _those_, though? And so many of them?" Sive gave a slight shudder as she remembered the walls of the entry hall and its hundreds of blank, lifeless eyes. "Those are just plain creepy. This whole _place_ is just plain creepy."

"No argument, there. Something struck me as off about the Colonel and Georg," Tech said as he captured a pawn, only to lose a bishop for his efforts. "Georg's just..._odd_- there's no other way of putting it. Something about him strikes me as bad news."

"Would it have anything to do with the fact that he looks like the Hulk's evil cousin?" Sive asked jokingly as she trapped one of Tech's pawns before finishing it off.

"There's that, and the fact that he seems to be all brawn and no brain," Tech replied with equal mirth. "He barely even spoke in complete, non-monosyllabic sentences. I hope his brother's not the same. Check."

Sive quickly moved her king out of harm's way, losing a bishop in the process. "As creepy as Georg is and his brother may be, the one who's really got me on my toes is the Colonel."

"Me, too. Was it just me, or did he seem _happy_ to see us?"

"Well, if I lived on an island in the middle of the Pacific, I'd be happy to get company, too," Sive said as she took his other rook with her queen.

"Joking aside, our reception seemed a little off. Not only was the Colonel happy to see us, but he didn't look very surprised, considering the circumstances. Check," Tech said again, putting her king in the path of his queen.

"And then there was that whole hunting rant... That's what really got me on edge- he seemed a bit _too_ into it," Sive explained as she craftily used a knight to take his queen. "I get that some people can get really into something, but he takes the word 'obsession' to a whole new level. Check."

"Yeah, but it's not just him- he said his other friends felt the same," Tech reminded her as he searched for the threat to his king. "I certainly hope that they're less eccentric than the Colonel."

"If they're living out here for as long as it sounds like they've been, then I think they're all a little eccentric," Sive stated.

"This is probably true," Tech agreed as he finally figured out Sive's trick and moved his king accordingly, surprised at how well she had trapped him. "But it's not just the obsession with hunting that put me off- remember what he said about the area being unchartable?"

"Yeah?"

"That kind of thing is mostly done by satellite imaging now. His explanation made no sense. So what if boats can't get out here? It shouldn't matter," he stated as he took one of her rooks.

"There's something weird going on around here, that's for sure." Sive thought a moment before taking her next move, moving a knight to a seemingly random spot on the board. "They are helping us, though," she added thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Tech admitted, taking time with his next move, wondering just what the other coyote was planning. "So long as whatever's going on here isn't illegal and doesn't involve us, I can ignore it. We'll be home soon, anyways."

"Uh, Tech? I hate to burst your bubble, but unless their boat is some kind of major ocean liner, we're not going anywhere until _that_ blows over," Sive stated, pointing at the storm out the window just as a particularly bright flash of lighting illuminated the room. Tech sighed in exasperation at their bad luck, shaking his head and making his move.

Sive thought for a moment, looking at the board critically. Then, she picked up her queen and started moving it, but before she could set it down again, Lexi started talking loud enough for everyone to hear. "Guys," she said, her ears and eyes glowing pink, "I hear people coming. Four of them, I think."

"How can you hear anything over this storm?" Duck asked skeptically, sitting up and closing the book.

"You get used to thunder with Sive around," Lexi stated, prompting Sive to rub the back of her neck and smile sheepishly, remembering all the times she had accidentally almost deafened Lexi before she had grown accustomed to the sound affects of Sive's powers.

Everyone stood up to greet whoever was coming, expecting it to be the Colonel's companions. Before the door opened, though, Sive said, "Oh, I almost forgot!" She placed her queen back on the board, proudly saying, "Checkmate."

Tech did a double take at the board, staring at it for a long moment before realizing that he had, in fact, been beaten. His king was covered from all moves by a few different pieces, and nothing he could do would have helped him out of his situation. Admittedly, he had been going easy on Sive, and had even been contemplating letting her win. He had been expecting to see defeat coming, though, not be completely blindsided. He had underestimated her, just as Duck had, and she had managed to stay a few steps ahead and corner him.

He was impressed.

He absently flicked his king, watching as it fell with a soft thud. Next time he wouldn't go easy on her, just to see what she could do. He found himself looking forward to that 'next time,' hoping it would be soon.

Tech was pulled from his thoughts as the door opened, admitting the approaching people Lexi had announced. The first one in was the Colonel, his wide, unnerving grin on his face. He was followed by three other unfamiliar men, all fairly wet from the rain and all surprised to see the Loonatics until, like the Colonel, seeming happy at their presence.

The first of the unfamiliars was a fairly large man. He was barrel-chested, thought it was far more pronounced than the Colonel's, and he was also at least a foot taller. He seemed older as well, judging by his completely gray hair, or the distinct lack thereof, but like the Colonel, didn't show it otherwise, making it impossible to guess his age. He had a large, comical moustache that almost completely covered his nose and mouth that made an interesting contrast to the tiny spectacles on his nose.

The second was a tiny little man, both in size and stature- he was even shorter than Duck and thinner than Rev. He had a scrunched up little face, and a jet black comb over that was made fairly obvious by the rain. He, too, had a pair of glasses on, but his were a fairly normal size. He looked to be in his 40's, probably around the same age as the Colonel but younger than the mustachioed man, but not by much.

The last man was by far younger than the others, maybe in his 20's or 30's. He had bright blonde hair that looked neat even though he was soaking wet, and a handsome face that, after his moment of surprise, was lit up by a megawatt smile. He was built, though not like the larger two of his three companions, and his eyes visibly twinkled with something unidentifiable that put the suspicious members of the Loonatics on edge.

"Well hack my legs off and call me Shorty!" the blonde one exclaimed with an obvious Texan accent as the two groups met at the center of the room. His accent surprised the Loonatics- they had been half-expecting all of them to be German, like the Colonel, Georg, and his so far unnamed brother. "I thought ya were kiddin' when ya said we had company, and the Loonatics no less!"

"I do not kid," the Colonel stated simply. "Ladies and gentlemen, I vould like to you meet my friends. Zis is General MacIntosh."

"'Ello, there, lads and lassies," the oldest man greeted in a heavy Scottish accent, giving each of the guys firm handshakes like the Colonel had done earlier and being equally gentlemanly to the girls. Again, the Loonatics were surprised by the accent, and also by the fact that he, too, had a military title. "Pleasure to meet ye."

"Zis is Lieutenant Jennings," the Colonel continued, gesturing to the smaller man.

"Oh, um, g-good afternoon," the Lieutenant greeted nervously in what might have been a slight British accent, nodding at them in acknowledgement but not shaking hands. He seemed like a quiet, jumpy sort of man, and it was surprising to learn that he had been in the military at all, much less with rank.

"And last but not least, 'Shorty' here is Major Tomson," the Colonel finished, giving the blonde man beside him a slight nudge.

"Howdy!" he greeted enthusiastically, also giving out handshakes that were, unsurprisingly, nowhere near as firm as his German and Scottish friends. "So, the Colonel tells us ya got stuck out here via a crashed boat. How on Earth did ya manage that?"

"We, ah, lost track of where we were," Tech admitted, both embarrassed by their situation and not wanting to tell the suspicious bunch much more than they already had.

"So ye decided te ask the rocks fer directions?" the General asked jokingly.

"Nah, we got stuck in dat current," Ace explained.

"That explains it. We get caught up in it from time to time, and I know it ain't easy ta get out of," the Major said emphatically. "There's a trick to it, and if ya don't know it, ya're in trouble."

"Yeah, we learned that one the hard way," Duck stated sarcastically.

"The Colonel was kind enough to offer to let us borrow your boat," Lexi informed, unsure if the other three were aware of their German compatriot's offer.

"Well, I should hope so!" the Major exclaimed. "It would be downright unpleasant ta be stuck here fer who knows how long until someone came lookin' fer ya."

"I wonder, though... Did you happen to mention, dear Colonel, that ours is a sailboat?" the General asked thoughtfully, giving the now pensive Colonel a curious, mildly amused look.

"No, I suppose I didn't..."

"Sailboats and thunderstorms don't mix very well, do they?" Sive asked rhetorically, looking at the seemingly unending hurricane outside.

"We almost got stuck in that on our way back today," the Major stated. "It hit when we were still a few miles out. We would've been in a tight fix if it warn't fer Jennin's, here."

"Oh, uh, i-it was noth-nothing, really," the jumpy little man stuttered modestly. "J-just some fiddling with the riggings."

"We were just lucky that we had the only ex-Navy man of our number with us," the Scotsman stated, ignoring his friend's modesty. "I'd hate ta think what would've happened if we had the Colonel with us instead- can't sail ta save his life."

"Alas, it is true," the Colonel admitted, not in the least embarrassed to admit his shortcoming.

"So-did-you-all-meet-through-the-army-or-was-it-through-something-else?" Rev asked, again making their hosts pause to decipher what the speedy roadrunner had just said.

"Well," the Major began, being the first to figure out what they had been asked, "it would be kinda hard for a German, Scotsman, Brit, and American ta meet in the army and be friends later, especially when ya consider that we're Air Force, Army, Navy, and another Army, respectively."

"We all met on different hunting excursions," the General explained. "The Colonel and meself met on a Cape Buffalo hunt about twenty years ago, I met the Lieutenant on a tiger hunt in Asia about six years later, the Colonel met the Major on a Grizzly hunt about six years after that, and then three years later, all four of us met… Oh, what were we after that time?"

"Amazon panthers," the Major supplied, rolling his eyes at his comrade's poor memory.

"Ah, yes, that's right! Anyway, we became very close on that hunt, due to its length, and found out we were all getting bored with traditional game. So, we found an…alternate type of game-"

"Vhich is a conversation for another time," the Colonel interrupted, giving the General a warning glance.

"Of course, of course. Now, where was I?" the General asked himself. He really didn't seem to have that good of a memory. "Oh, yes, so, this alternate game required a private place to hunt it, hence why we live out here. The game comes to us frequently enough for us to have a good hunt every month or so, sometimes more, sometimes less, but we weren't bored anymore, and that's what mattered. Now, by that time, the Colonel, Lieutenant, and meself were all retired from the armed forces due to age, so we decided to retire here. We figured the Major would join us permanently in a few years, but of course, a few months later he goes and gets his knee shot out."

"It warn't like I was _tryin'_ ta get hit!" the Major said defensively. "It did force an early retirement, though, and since I can still run- at least, relatively,- I'm okay with it. Nowhere near as fast as I used ta be, but I can still keep up in a hunt."

The Loonatics all noticed how close they were to being unable to get them off the topic of hunting, and none of them were entirely comfortable with the topic- comfortable at all, really. They wanted to be careful with broaching a subject change, though- they didn't want to insult the ex-armed forces men by accident. Even so, they were all very relieved when Ace found a break in the conversation to say, "Sorry ta change da subject, but do ya know when dis storm's supposed ta end? We don't wanna be stuck in your hair for too long."

"'Case ya haven't noticed, most of us don't got no hair," the Major stated, earning good natured chuckles from his older companions. "We heard a weather report while on the mainland, and they said it warn't supposed to stop 'till around sundown. You're of course welcome ta stay here until it does- we won't force ya ta try sailin' in this, or stay outside, and besides, like we said, we enjoy the company."

"Ve vould insist zat you stay for dinner, anyway, considering how it is almost five o'clock," the Colonel stated. "Come- zat gives us just enough time to show you ze rest of ze house."

"Oh, yes," the General agreed as the Loonatics started following the avid hunters out of the room, "you simply must see the game room. It's the best place in the entire house."

"I really hope he means board games…" Duck muttered to himself, resignedly following the others out of the library.

**A/N: And now they're in the lion's den. …I'd bet those four would love that analogy. XD Next chapter may be a little late, just so you know, so I'm apologizing in advance. I'm volunteering all day this Saturday, and next Sunday I'm going to a concert, and I've got a major Science project to do sometime in between, (or at least start XD) and I doubt it will be up in time. Probably closer to the end of the week two weeks from now. DX Sorry! Hopefully this long chapter will tide you over.**

**R&R!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Argh…Late chapter is late… I apologize. I did say that this would be a busy couple of weeks for me, but it got busier when my PLAN results got back and colleges started emailing me. The good news is, six or seven really good colleges emailed me. The bad news is I had very little typing time. DX Most things don't take precedence over my writing, but college planning doesn't fall under that. Plus, it's kinda hard to ignore it when you're getting emails from some of the top schools in the nation. My mom would probably have eaten me if I did…**

**Anywho, things start to get interesting in this chapter. For those of you waiting for some serious action, though, next chapter is the one you're waiting for, and it doesn't stop much after that! XD So until then, enjoy this chapter! (Fair warning, it's a bit on the long side. I was planning on starting the serious action in this chapter, but as it was I barely avoided dividing this chapter into two, fairly boring chapters. Next chapter will also be long.)**

For the Loonatics, dinner was awkward. Not for any of the usual reasons, though; conversation was in abundance, everyone seemed to be getting along, and the food was just as exquisite as everything else in the house- there were even vegetarian options set out for the non-meat eating anthro species, meaning everyone but Slam and the coyotes. The problem, in fact, stemmed from the conversations themselves. Considering whose company they were in, it shouldn't have been all that surprising.

There were too many people to easily carry on one conversation, so they had split into smaller conversational groups. The awkwardness stemmed from the fact that the four ex-armed forces men seemed to be unable to stop talking about hunting for more than 6.23 minutes- Tech had been timing them. The Loonatics were trying hard to keep the hunters on different topics, with varying degrees of success.

The General, with some help from the Lieutenant, had started telling hunting stories in the game room. And hadn't stopped. The game room had been even bigger than the entry hall, filled with thousands of animals of all sizes from all corners of the earth, and the General had insisted on telling the story behind each and every one. Dinner had been ready before he had gotten through half of them, but he had somehow managed to keep Slam and Duck a captive audience. The aforementioned mallard had decided that he had lost his appetite a while ago, but Slam was focusing more on the food than the old man.

Ace and Lexi, meanwhile, were talking to the Colonel and for the most part being successful in keeping the topic off of hunting. They were asking the Colonel more questions about himself and the others, learning more about the odd group and their...eccentric tastes. They didn't learn anything particularly interesting other than the fact that the island had very varied environments, depending upon the area one was in. The Colonel then went on to give a long-winded explanation on how that was good for hunting, making the bunnies inwardly groan.

The last group was by far the most successful. The conversation had started out fairly normally- the Major had been asking more questions about how they had ended up on the island, namely details on the search for the _Free Spirit_, only to be continuously sidestepped by Tech and Sive, even cutting off Rev whenever necessary. Rev didn't mind, though, so long as it kept the Major off of the topic of hunting, and the two coyotes seemed to know what they were doing. The Major didn't seem to realize he was being duped, either, based on his reaction or lack thereof to the half-answers to his questions.

It didn't take long for things to take a turn for the better. The poor, unaware Major only had himself to blame, really. After all, anyone who knew anything at all about exactly who he was talking to should have known not to ask "What are you going to do for a new boat?"

This was why Sive was now sitting back and watching with amusement as the flustered Major listened to Tech and Rev animatedly explain, in vivid detail, just how they were going to build a new one. They had been going full steam for almost twenty minutes and showed no sign of stopping, putting the old, rambling General to shame. The Major had attempted to get a word in edgewise here and there, but quickly realized his attempts were futile and gave up, resigning himself to following along with their descriptions as best he could.

Sive, on the other hand, had stopped paying attention long ago and opted to take in her surroundings better, taking advantage of the fact that no one seemed to be paying attention to her. She started by listening in on the other conversations, quickly ignoring the General and Lieutenant's storytelling in favor of the Colonel's conversation. After realizing he wasn't saying anything of value, she moved on to simply observing them, gleaning what information she could about them by simply observing them.

It didn't take long to figure out that the General, despite having the highest rank of the assembled military men, was a follow-the-leader type. The simple fact of the matter was that he wasn't smart enough to be in charge. Whether or not his spotty memory had anything to do about that, Sive didn't know, but she quickly decided that he was all brawn and no brain, similar to Tech's earlier conclusion of Georg.

Sive realized that the aforementioned German giant had a strange role, now that she thought about it. He had been the one to answer the door, yet he had gone and fetched the Colonel instead of playing host himself. He had unquestioningly followed orders from the Colonel, (at least, that what it looked like- Sive didn't speak German.) He had also been the one serving the food, and she could only assume that he and/or his still unknown brother had been the cook, considering how the other four men had been with them the whole time and they hadn't seen hide nor hair of anyone else in the house. All in all, Georg and his brother were nothing more than beefed up manservants.

The Colonel and Major, on the other hand, seemed to be in charge. The Colonel was the one who had control, but the Major was the one who took it. Georg, and most likely his brother, answered to the Colonel. He probably ran the show in a behind the scenes way. His more obvious eccentrices caused him to stand back and let the Major more outwardly take charge, though. The Major was the one who seemed the most normal out of the men in the odd group, and used it to his advantage. He exerted a natural charisma that was impossible to ignore, making him instantly likeable. So, naturally, Sive didn't like him. There was something about him- about all of them, really- that screamed 'bad news.' That on top of her natural distrust of strangers led to a strong wariness from the young coyote.

Oddly enough, the one who had her most on edge was the Lieutenant. The diminutive Brit seemed to be the brains of the group, though it took a while to realize this- he barely spoke. Even while filling in holes for the General, he only said what was absolutely necessary to put the old man back on track, and he didn't say anything otherwise. The thing that tipped her off to his cleverness was that he was doing exactly what Sive was doing- sizing the Loonatics up, learning what he could simply by watching. When Sive had started studying him, he had been giving the oblivious Ace and Lexi a hard, beady-eyed stare. Upon realizing that he was under Sive's scrutinizing gaze, though, he shifted his attention to her.

While most people would have looked away, trying to act like they weren't staring, Sive held his gaze, dark hazel meeting deep blue. She kept her face completely neutral, careful to show him nothing, though she couldn't help but let a little amusement through when he started looking annoyed at her lack of response, which made him even more irritated. He shifted slightly in his seat, now intent on just staring her down, and she matched him while their unaware comrades continued chatting.

Their staring contest came to an abrupt end as a thunder crack loud enough to make everyone jump in their seats rang out, accompanied by a bright flash of lightning. Not two seconds later, it started hailing vigorously. The storm had seemed to abate earlier, but it looked as though it was coming back with a vengeance.

"...I thought ya said dis would blow over by sundown?" Ace confirmed, eyes locked on the once again raging storm outside.

"Well, that's what we heard earlier," the General explained. "That weather lad should be fired."

"I bet Misty Breeze didn't get it wrong," Duck muttered under his breath, getting a quick jab in the ribcage from Lexi.

"It looks worse than it did earlier out there," Tech observed, standing up and walking to a window to take a look outside. Most of the others assembled at the table followed him.

"Jeez-look-at-those-waves-I've-never-seen-them-that-big-before-not-even-in-movies-well-maybe-not-those-end-of-the-world-flicks-but-I-definitely-haven't-seen-anything-like-that-in-real-life-before,"Rev rambled, observing the gargantuan waves clashing with the cliff face outside the rain-streaked window.

"Our lil' sailboat's gonna be about as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe in that there hurricane," the Major intoned seriously, blinking as another flash of lightning lit the room. He didn't notice as a man entered the room and walked up to the Colonel, quietly conversing with him in German. Everyone else did, though, and the Loonatics took a moment to study him before turning their attention back to their new problem.

He looked just like Georg, right down to the same clothing. Sive idly wondered if they were twins. The only difference she could spot between the two was that while Georg was devoid of any hair whatsoever, this newcomer had a buzz cut and 5 o'clock shadow. She assumed that this was his brother, watching him closely as he stepped out of the room again.

"Maybe it'll clear up soon?" Lexi asked hopefully. She realized it was a pointless hope as a strong gust of wind made the window plating rattle.

"Even if this storm does clear up, y-you wouldn't be able to get v-very far," the Lieutenant stuttered. It was becoming obvious that this wasn't just a nervous habit- the little Brit had a speech impediment. "Wind affects wave height; w-waves of that height mean s-serious wind."

"And serious wind plus sailboat equals spectacular crash," Sive concluded, wincing as she saw some trees in the distant forest topple over from the force of the wind.

"Pretty much, yeah," the Major agreed.

"So all in all we're still stuck here until this blows over?" Duck asked sourly. "Uh, not that this place is bad or anything, we just, uh…" he added sheepishly, trailing off nervously.

"No offense taken- ve understand zat you vant to get home," the Colonel said agreeably. "Zis whole episode must have been quite a surprise, after all. It's not every day you crash your boat in ze middle of ze Pacific and get stuck on an island by a fierce storm."

"Any idea when it'll blow over?" Sive asked.

"Nope; radio signals can't get out here and we ain't got no use for TV's," the Major explained. "Your guess is as good as ours."

"Even if the storm did clear up soon, we couldn't let you leave- it's getting dark out and our boat doesn't have a light on it," the General explained. "That on top of the wind makes for a very dangerous journey, indeed."

"Ve can't get to ze boat house, anyway," the Colonel informed. "Ze man whom I vas just speaking to is Peter, Georg's brother. He informed me zat ze river overflowed its banks again, and ve cannot cross until it drains some."

"So, all in all, no one's going anywhere until da storm breaks up and da river drains, right?" Ace confirmed.

"That about sums it up," the Major agreed. "We've been stuck here before, though, and we can tell ya that it ain't no big deal fer us. Ya'll are o'course welcome ta stay here, too. We wouldn't turn ya out in this."

"And before you try being polite," the Colonel cut in as Ace opened his mouth, "zis house is big enough for upwards of forty people; seven more won't be an issue- especially not for only one night."

"Uh, thanks, doc," Ace said sheepishly, a little embarrassed at being so predictable. "This is a huge help to us- we can't thank ya enough."

"As I said before, think nothing of it," the Colonel replied. "I'll have Georg and Peter prepare rooms for you. Excuse me a moment," he said as he stepped out of the room, presumably in search of the German brothers.

"I know it probably warn't in yer plans ta stay here fer tonight, but hopefully it won't be so bad," the Major said amicably as they all headed back to the table. "Who knows? Maybe there'll be time fer us ta have some fun before ya go tomorrow!"

"Yippee," Sive whispered sarcastically, receiving agreeing nods from Tech and Lexi.

**xoxoxoxox**

A little later on, the Colonel had Georg and Peter show the Loonatics to their rooms, leaving the four ex-military men alone in the dining room. Once the coast was clear, the Colonel retrieved a special bottle of brandy from his secret stash, and they had a celebratory drink.

"You see?" the Colonel asked. "Vhat did I say? Just vait, and your problems sort zemselves out."

"I still don't feel like sortin' that out. All I know is that the best game of our lives literally came knockin' at our front door, and they're none the wiser!" the Major exclaimed joyfully, downing is drink and only realizing what a bad idea that was after the burning sensation started.

"They're not _that_ oblivious- not all of them, anyway," the Lieutenant stated, gingerly sipping his drink. "You, dear Major, failed to notice that those two coyotes were completely sidestepping your questions, similar to what the Colonel was doing to the rabbits. I think those two, at the very least, know something is up, if not what."

"Oh, please, Jennings, no one would possibly guess what we're up to," the General drawled jovially, taking a generous swig from his glass.

"Even so, ze Lieutenant is right; ve should tread carefully," the Colonel stated. "Ve haven't dealt vith anything like ze likes of ze Loonatics before. Ve don't know vhat to expect, vhat zey're capable of."

"You scared, old man?" the Major challenged with a smirk.

"On ze contrary- I'm strategizing. Vhat is ze best vay to deal vith groups?"

"Separate them," the Lieutenant replied without missing a beat.

"Precisely. I vas just thinking zat zat is vhen ve could figure out just vhat ve're up against."

"But before that, don't we have a hunt to finish?" the General asked. "Last I checked, there was still one more from the last batch."

"But of course, how could I forget?" the Colonel asked. "Ve've toyed with him long enough. Ve'll finish him off tonight, and start on ze new arrivals early tomorrow."

"Or maybe right as we finish with this one," the Lieutenant recommended. "Not a lot gets past them- the pink bunny will probably hear the gunshots."

"Ve'll do it your vay, zen," the Colonel agreed.

"But until then, let's get huntin'!" the Major exclaimed excitedly, standing up from the table, obviously a little buzzed. "You and I are still tied, after all, old man!"

"Beating you has never been an issue," the Colonel retorted playfully, earning a lighthearted chuckle from the Lieutenant and a cackle from the General as they followed the Major.

**xoxoxoxox**

"What did he just say, Tech?" Ace asked as Georg and Peter walked back the way they had come, leaving them in the middle of a four way intersection of hallways. Peter had quickly grumbled something in German with a voice like sandpaper before the two brothers had taken their leave.

"He said that there were three rooms at the end of each of these halls," Tech translated, looking at the three hallways around them. They were all very long- he couldn't see the end of them in the dim light, except during the brief flashes of lightning from the few windows. "The hall that's to our right is the only one with all three rooms prepared, though."

"Okay," Ace replied. "Goils, do you two want ta go down dere with one of us?" Ace wasn't too keen on the idea of leaving the girls alone down one hallway. While he didn't think anything bad of their hosts, they didn't know them very well, and he wasn't too keen on taking chances with his teammates, especially when one of them was his girlfriend.

"Actually, Ace, I'd like to stick with you," Lexi said. "That is, if you don't mind, Sive."

"Nah, feel free," Sive replied.

"Alright. We'll let you guys sort yourselves out," Ace said as he and Lexi headed down the hallway to the left.

"Duck, you want to share that hallway with Slam?" Tech asked, gesturing to the hallway straight ahead.

"May as well," Duck replied. He shared a hallway with the Tasmanian devil back at HQ, and he usually shared with him when they went elsewhere. The reason why? Slam snored like a foghorn, clearly audible to anyone in near proximity, and Duck was known for sleeping like a rock. He was the only one who could sleep through it. "C'mon, Slam, let's get some shut-eye."

The Tasmanian devil growled his agreement, following the short mallard down the hall to their rooms as Tech, Rev, and Sive turned down their hallway. After a decent walk, they arrived at the end of the hall. One door was on each wall, fairly close to each other, and not at all unreasonably sized, unlike all the others they had seen so far.

"Well-I-don't-know-about-you-guys-but-after-all-that's-happened-today-I'm-beat-and-I'm-going-to-go-right-to-bed-so-good-night-and-see-you-in-the-morning," Rev said quickly, yawning at the end of it before stepping into his room.

"Good night, Rev!" Sive called after him. "And so ends day one of this extremely suspicious event."

"Look at the bright side; we'll be home tomorrow," Tech pointed out.

"Yeah, if the wind dies down," Sive said. "And until we're home, I'm not letting my guard down. These guys creep me out on a number of levels."

"Same here- I'm definitely sleeping with one eye open."

"I would, but I'm going with Rev on this one. I'm exhausted, and I plan on sleeping until noon tomorrow, if not later."

"And if we leave before noon?"

"Then I'll be first out the door, phasing through it if need be," she replied without missing a beat. "But, seriously, I'm about to fall asleep on my feet, so I'm going to hit the hay."

"Sounds like a plan," Tech agreed. "Goodnight, Sive. See you in the morning."

"'Night, Tech," Sive replied as she stepped into her room, closing the door behind her.

It was very homey and plush. The room had been decorated with the color purple in mind, and had a fuzzy carpet, a dresser, and two nightstands on either side of the large, plush bed. At that time, though, she only had eyes for the warm, inviting looking bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

If she hadn't been so tired, she may have taken a moment to look out of the rain streaked window. The first thing she would have noticed were the iron bars on the outside. They wouldn't have been an issue for her, not that she would have planned on an exit via defenestration, but their presence would have been curious. Then, if she had looked further out into the dark landscape, maybe, just maybe, in the light of a flash of lightning, she may have noticed the five armed men exiting the house, one of which leading a pack of dogs, already on the trail.

**A/N: Ominous, no? XP The next chapter will (hopefully) be on time, but no promises. (Especially considering how I haven't even started that bridge project, yet… DX) And again, I'm sorry both for the lateness, and now, for the lateness in the day for this actual post. I meant to have this up way earlier, but my sister has a friend over, and I got kicked out of the basement, so I was stuck using the laptop. Not only do I hate the laptop, but it _doesn't have a working mouse! _D:**

**And just so everyone knows, to 'defenestrate' something is essentially to chuck it out a window. It's my favorite word, I've been looking for an excuse to use it, and I hope everyone reading this finds it as funny as I do. XD**

**R&R!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: This one actually wasn't as long as I thought it would be… Huh. Oh, well. Nothing notable to say, other than this is where the action starts, and the next chapter should also be on the long side and reasonably on-time. I'm not sure how the next two chapters are going to play out, though, so there may be a delay. More on that in the second A/N. Until then, enjoy this chapter!**

The storm continued through the night. While the hail did eventually stop, the torrential rain worsened, as did the frequency of the thunder and lightning. It was a miracle anyone got any sleep at all. And yet, it was also a miracle that no one had fallen asleep earlier, and their exhaustion beat out the storm. Everyone would have slept right on through it- 'would have' being the operative words.

Lexi usually managed to sleep through storms. It had taken some getting used to after she received her powers, and the fact that she had always been a light sleeper hadn't helped. Eventually she had worked past it to the point where she could usually sleep through a storm, especially when she was really tired.

So this was why she found it odd when she was awakened in the dead of night by the distant sound of a sharp crack.

Her eyes snapped open, and she lay still for a moment, intently listening for the sound again. It wasn't thunder, she was sure of that. It had been too quick, not the right tone; different enough to have woken her up. She had been asleep, though, so while she felt as though she should've known what it was, she couldn't figure it out in her groggy mind.

After a few moments of not hearing anything out of the ordinary again, she relaxed and sat up, tiredly rubbing her eyes. She was awake now, and she knew she couldn't fall asleep again until she figured out what the sound that woke her up was. So, she reluctantly got out from under the soft, warm covers and looked around, wondering where to start looking. Her attention was drawn to the window by a flash of lightning, so she decided to look outside first. Maybe it was a falling tree she had heard.

She wished she had Ace's eyes as she looked out the window- the rain was difficult for her to see past, and she couldn't see very far because of it. She was on the side of the house facing away from the cliff, towards the dense forest, and she could just barely make out the tree line in the distance.

After a moment of closely watching for any sign of movement, she was just about to leave the window when she heard the sound again, the distinct crack echoing out in the distance. It was closer. And this time, she knew what it sounded like, and she desperately hoped she was wrong. Once she heard approaching barking, though, she knew she was right, and she felt her blood chill in her veins.

Even with the window streaked to a near opaque quality, she saw more than enough.

Something came running pell-mell out of the tree line. It looked like nothing more than a dark smudge at first, and it was followed by more smudges- if the barking was anything to go by, they were dogs, and they were quickly closing in on their quarry. As they approached, Lexi was able to tell what they were chasing- a man. He was too skinny and too tall to be any of the men living in the house, and that fact brought to mind many questions to which she wasn't sure if she wanted answers.

The dogs quickly caught up to the man, the two in the lead pouncing on him and tackling him to the ground as the others surrounded them. One more man ran out of the forest. He was bigger than the first, and shorter- his silhouette actually had a striking resemblance to the General or Colonel, though he was too far away to be certain. At his approach, the two dogs that had pounced left their prey alone, joining the others in forming a semicircle formation so that the newcomer had an unobstructed view of the man on the ground.

No one moved for a moment, and she assumed they were talking. It was raining too hard for her to hear anything short of shouting, though she wasn't sure she would have wanted to hear, anyway. This was only reinforced when the second man pulled something off of his back- a rifle.

Up until that point, she had been shocked to the point of numbness, rooted to her spot in front of the window and unable to do anything other than gawk at the scene unfolding outside. Once the second man pulled the weapon, though, it was like receiving a slap in the face. She spun around and started running away at a speed that would have made Rev gawk.

That still didn't mean she didn't hear the resounding crack from outside, though.

**xoxoxoxox**

Ace, contrary to popular belief, was one of the heaviest sleepers among the Loonatics, and typically didn't wake up that easily. He would usually loaf around in bed for a bit after waking up before actually getting up, barring a call from Zadavia or some other type of emergency.

He decided a split second after waking up that Lexi shouting and pounding on his door as if she was trying to break it down fell under the latter category.

He rocketed out of bed, stumbling a bit when he got tangled up in the covers, and ran to the door, wrenching it open as fast as possible. He hadn't really been sure what to expect, but Lexi launching herself at him and hugging him hard enough to make him stumble back and let out a surprised "Oof!" wasn't on the list. He returned the embrace, looking out into the hall and into the open door to Lexi's room for any sort of threat. Satisfied that there were none, he turned his attention to the trembling form in his arms.

"Lexi?" he asked. "You alright? What happened?"

"I-I..." she began, pausing to collect herself and stop her voice from trembling. Once she started again, though, her explanation quickly turned into a panicked ramble. "Something woke me up, and I looked out the window, and then there was this guy, and dogs, and then some other guy, and then he _shot_ the first guy, and-"

"Shh, it's okay, Lex," Ace said quietly. "Sounds like all dis talk of huntin' is givin' ya nightmares."

"It wasn't a dream, Ace!" Lexi snapped. "I know what I saw!"

"Okay, okay! I'll go take a look," Ace conceded, allowing Lexi to lead him back to her room and to the window. "Can ya even see past da rain?" Lexi shot him a glare, which he didn't see and most likely would have ignored if he had. He was more focused on opening the window, looking past the iron bars out into the rainy night. He had also noticed the bars earlier, but hadn't paid them much attention.

"I don't see anythin', Lex," Ace informed after a moment, pulling his face away from the window and wiping off his now very wet nose on his sleeve.

"What? That can't be..." Lexi said mostly to herself as she looked out the open window, Ace looking over her shoulder. It was true- in the few minutes it took to get Ace, the group outside had cleared out, dogs and all.

"It looks like it was just a bad dream, Lex," Ace reiterated. "Maybe it was a fallin' tree ya heard? Or thunder?"

"No, it wasn't. I thought of that, but it didn't sound right. They were here, Ace, I just don't-"

"Hang on a sec," Ace said quickly, putting a hand on Lexi's shoulder to halt her speech and leaning back out the window. He was staring outside intently with a look of deep concentration on his face, though for the life of her, Lexi couldn't figure out what he was staring at.

"...Ace?" she asked after a moment.

"Somethin's movin' out dere," he said by way of an explanation. "It's in da trees, and I can't tell what it is, but dere is somethin' out dere."

"I told you!" Lexi exclaimed triumphantly.

"Now now, dat doesn't mean dat people are shootin' each other," Ace interjected as he pulled himself back inside and shut the window, trying to be the voice of reason. "We should tell someone dat somethin's out dere, though. We haven't seen any sign of life out dere since we got here, so who knows what I saw."

"Someone as in...?" Lexi began, fully expecting the answer though hoping he would say something else.

"One of da guys dat lives here, preferably one dat speaks English," Ace replied simply, moving for the door. "Dey're de only ones who might know what dat was."

"_What_?" Lexi hissed in disbelief, catching up to Ace and grabbing his arm. "Ace, we should be warning our teammates!"

"Warning dem of what? Dere's probably nothin' ta worry about!"

"Ace, have you really not noticed everything that's wrong around here?" Lexi asked. "There's a lot of things that have happened that don't add up, and this is just tipping the scale. Something is very wrong around here, and these guys are a part of it."

"Lex, you're just blowin' things out of proportion," Ace said humorlessly, starting to get a little annoyed.

"No I'm not! Tech and Sive agree with me- something's not right around here." That gave Ace a momentary pause. He did trust Lexi, but it seemed she was just overreacting to a nightmare. Sive he could understand being suspicious- she trusted hardly anyone further than she could throw them, and not without good reason. But Tech? Super-logical Tech? He almost always had a sound reason for his opinions.

"Alright, I'll admit, dese guys here are a little sketchy, but nothin' like you're suggestin'," Ace stated, freeing his arm from Lexi's grip. "Tell ya what. If ya really wanna go wake up da guys and tell 'em 'bout a threat dat probably isn't dere, be my guest. I, on da other hand, am goin' ta figure out what's goin' on outside."

Lexi watched, completely flabbergasted, as Ace left the room, before groaning angrily and quickly following after him. She may not have been very happy with him at that time, but that didn't mean she was going to let him face one of their crazy hosts without backup. She just hoped that nothing bad would happen in the meantime.

**xoxoxoxox**

The two wandered around the house in tense silence, neither feeling very keen on talking again. Ace led the way, looking around for a sign that someone was awake. After a while, Lexi heard something and took the lead, Ace following behind. Eventually, Lexi's ears led them to the large entry hall. It looked even scarier at night. There was a fire going in the fireplace, and the flickering shadows added to the eerie light reflected in the lifeless eyes of the stuffed animals made it even less inviting than it already had been.

As they rounded a corner, the whole entry hall came into view, and they both stopped in their tracks at what they saw. For there, tending the fire and soaking wet, was the Lieutenant. He was in full hunting garb, complete with a special pair of hunting glasses that looked comically oversized on his scrunched up face. Most notable, though, were the crossbow and quiver he had lain to dry in front of the fire.

Without a word, the two bunnies crept backward until they were again hidden by the wall.

"See? What did I tell you?" Lexi whispered accusingly, gesturing through the wall at the unaware Lieutenant.

"Dere's probably a reasonable explanation for dis-" Ace began, though he didn't sound nearly as sure as he would've liked.

"You keep saying 'probably', Ace, but there's nothing reasonable about this!" Lexi interrupted. "We're known for dealing with the unreasonable, and we need to get to the bottom of this before something really bad happens!"

Ace thought for a moment, weighing her words and the evidence. He was hesitant to accuse the people who had helped them so much of anything more than being strange, yet Lexi did have a point. Now that he thought about it, he agreed that everything didn't add up, and he was determined to figure out just what was going on, preferably without putting anyone else in danger.

"Stay here," he ordered suddenly, and before Lexi could protest, he walked back around the corner, intent on questioning the Lieutenant. While she had been planning on being his backup, she figured he could handle himself against the little Lieutenant. Besides, she would be able to watch his back better from there, she reasoned, so she stayed put.

She focused on her hearing, intent on listening in, but before she could hear more than two words, she flinched and lowered her sensitivity as she was deafened by a crack of thunder. Her ears rang for a moment afterward, and since she could no longer hear him, she peeked around the corner to make sure Ace was still alright. The Lieutenant looked very flustered, and though she couldn't see his face, Lexi could tell Ace was getting more and more suspicious, forcing the Lieutenant to be on the defensive. She was glad he finally understood that something bad was going on, and hoped that they weren't already in too deep.

Once her ears stopped ringing, she waited until right after the next thunder crack to turn up her hearing again. However, while she had been focused on watching out for Ace, she should have been watching her own back- she only heard the person approaching behind her after it was too late.

Before she could even fully process the fact that someone was behind her, she felt a searing pain in her side that quickly spread to her entire body that was accompanied by a strange buzzing sound. She couldn't move, couldn't make a sound, and she mercifully blacked out seconds later.

**xoxoxoxox**

_It's too late for this_, Sive thought as she found herself rudely awoken by rapid-fire knocking at her door, each knock being accompanied by a shout of her name. It paused for a moment, and she was able to hear Tech's door receiving the same treatment before the offending knocks returned to her door. _Rev..._

She groaned as she tiredly got out of bed, slowly walking to the door as she stretched and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She heard Tech's door open as she reached hers, but instead of opening it, quickly deciding that would take too much effort for that time of night, she phased her head through the door.

She was met with an equally bleary Tech, who was trying to make sense of a frantic Rev as he spoke so fast, it made her head spin. He was gesticulating widely and his eyes were bugging out of his head, and the poor roadrunner looked like he was flirting with being completely terrified.

"Rev. Rev. Rev. _Rev_. _Rev_. _**Rev**_!" Tech said over and over with more force each time, trying to get the frazzled roadrunner to cease the torrent of nonsense so he could calm him down.

Upon realizing that Tech was getting nowhere fast and that Rev showed no sign of stopping, Sive shouted "_**REV**_!" at the top of her lungs, making both of them jump. Neither had noticed her appearance, either too panicked or too focused on the panic to pay much attention to her.

"Now that we have your attention..." Sive muttered dryly.

"Rev, what is going on?" Tech asked tiredly, rubbing his eyes. "Slower this time, please."

"Okay-so-I-was-sleeping-and-then-I-heard-something-so-I-woke-up-and-opened-the-window-to-see-what-it-was-and-I-saw-someone-run-out-of-the-woods-and-then-he-was-attacked-by-dogs-and-then-some-other-guy-showed-up-and-he-_shot_-the-first-guy-and-then-I-freaked-out-and-got-you-two."

"Rev, it sounds like you just had a bad dream," Sive stated tiredly, reaching a hand through the door to stifle a yawn.

"It-wasn't-a-dream-here-come-see!" Rev exclaimed, grabbing Sive's hand and pulling her the rest of the way through the door. Sive only had time to give out a startled yelp as she was pulled into the roadrunner's room, Tech following behind.

Sive yanked her hand out of the roadrunner's grip, shooting him a glare as she rubbed her now sore arm, as Tech walked up to the still open window. He stuck his head out, trying to see past the rain, and Sive looked over his shoulder.

"...I don't see anything out there, Rev," Tech said after a moment.

"Me, either," Sive agreed.

"What-that's-not-possible-they-were-just-there-a-minute-ago," Rev said as he slid in next to Sive, looking over Tech's other shoulder. He didn't see anything different than the other two, though- just an empty, rain soaked field with the forest in the distance.

Tech sighed tiredly, pulling back from the window and closing it, forcing the other two to take a step back. "Rev, I think Sive's right- it sounds like it was just a dream."

"If-it-was-a-dream-then-why-was-the-window-open-huh?" Rev retorted smartly.

"Touché," Sive replied. She looked back over to Tech to formulate a reply to Rev- she was too tired to make a good counterargument. One that made sense, anyway.

Tech took a moment to think of a reply, before smugly saying "Sleepwalking. You've done it before."

"Have-not!"

"Wanna bet?"

Sive shook her head at their banter, mildly amused by the friendly argument. Well, semi-friendly, anyway.

Then, something occurred to her. Rev had said he had seen dogs. The dogs that were outside the house hadn't stopped barking at each other since they arrived. She had woken up once earlier for only a minute or two, and had marveled at how loud they were before falling back asleep again. Only now did she realize that she hadn't heard them when Rev woke her up.

She walked out of Rev's room with a look of consternation on her face, already apprehensive of what she would see as she walked back through her door. Based on where her room was, the dogs should've been right below her in the backyard. However, when she stuck her head through the window and through the bars to be able to look down, all she saw was an empty yard. In a flash of lightning, she saw the tall fence surrounding it, and the distinct lack of its noisy occupants. On the far side, the gate was wide open, swinging in the wind.

She pulled herself back inside, shaking off her now soaked hair as she walked back through her door and into Rev's room where she found Tech and Rev in a quickly escalating argument that now seemed to revolve around each of their overall sanity. Sive knew that there really wasn't time for this, and that everything was going very wrong very fast.

"HEY!" Sive yelled at the top of her lungs, skipping to the extreme to get their attention.

They both turned to her, and their angry expressions quickly switched to ones of questioning. "Sive-why-are-you-all-wet?" Rev asked.

"Stuck my head through a window," she nonchalantly replied as if that was a normal, everyday occurrence. "Guys, I think Rev's right."

Rev looked very happy at this and gave a triumphant "Ha!" at Tech, while the coyote looked even more confused.

"The dogs that were in the yard? They're gone," Sive stated matter-of-factly. "The gate's wide open."

Tech's eyes widened at the implication, reaching the same startling conclusion as Sive had. Rev, on the other hand, took it completely differently.

"Oh-hey-maybe-the-storm-blew-it-open-and-the-dogs-got-out-and-attacked-some-animal-and-someone-went-to-go-get-them-and-uh-well-put-it-out-of-its-misery-or-something-yeah-that-makes-so-much-more-sense-than-what-I-thought-I-saw," Rev rambled, drawing a very different conclusion than the two coyotes.

"Uh, Rev, I don't think-" Tech began, trying to correct his friend, before Rev cut him off and went off on a rant again.

"Hey-I-wonder-if-anyone-knows-that-the-dogs-are-out-probably-not-since-it's-the-middle-of-the-night-and-all-but-we-should-probably-tell-someone-that-the-dogs-are-loose-and-that-someone's-found-them-I'm-going-to-go-see-if-anyone's-awake-and-tell-them-that-bye!" And before either of the coyotes could finish processing what he had said, Rev had taken off through the open door down the hall.

"...What just happened?" Sive asked after a moment of staring after the long-gone roadrunner.

"He gets like that when he's overtired," Tech explained, "and I'm pretty sure he just said he was going to go look for someone to tell them the dog's are out."

Nothing more needed to be said for the two of them to take off as fast as they could after the unbelievably unaware roadrunner. While Rev had come to his completely innocent conclusion in his very Rev-like way, the two coyotes had come to a very different, very frightening realization. It seemed as though Rev's supposed nightmare was more real than they had originally thought- and Rev had just taken off at high speeds to talk to the hunters.

The two coyotes ran down the hall after the roadrunner, past the many mounts and animals and pedestals showing off more hunting trophies, all glinting in the sporadic flashes of lightning. This time they paid them no heed, their minds only on catching up to the roadrunner before he made it downstairs and undoubtedly ran headfirst into something unpleasant. Sive, being faster than most of her teammates, quickly pulled ahead of Tech, though she made sure not to leave him too far behind- it wouldn't help at all for all three of them to not have backup.

They didn't have to go far; it looked as though the hunters had been looking for them, too. They could hear Rev talking to someone up ahead before they could see him- it was too dark. By the time Sive was able to see them, everything started going downhill.

Rev was talking to two of the larger members of their host party. Sive couldn't tell which two as of yet due to the darkness, but she didn't really care, either- they posed a threat no matter who they were. It was fairly obvious that they had and were expressing bad intentions, if Rev's defensive posture was anything to go by.

What Rev didn't notice, however, was that one of them was slowly edging away so he would be standing just outside of the roadrunner's line of sight. Sive could guess what he had in mind easily enough, and just as he started to make a grab for Rev, she shouted "Look out!"

The Loonatics had always worked well as a team and trusted their teammates implicitly. They always looked out for each other and vice-versa. This was why when someone said, "Look out", they typically didn't bother wasting time looking for the threat- they just moved. Luckily for Rev, he moved fast enough to avoid getting caught, shooting towards the ceiling at dizzying speeds just as the larger of the two men firmly grabbed the air just where he had been standing moments before.

Unfortunately, Sive's shout put the attention of the two hunters on her. While the first, slightly smaller one kept his focus on the roadrunner circling overhead, the second changed his target to the young coyote, obviously frustrated about his foiled catch. With a loud cry, he charged her, seemingly intent on tackling her.

A tackle from a guy of that size could do some serious damage to someone her size. She wasn't planning on letting him do so, but she didn't just want to phase through him, either; she wanted to take the opportunity to do some damage. So, she crouched down, tensing her legs as he dipped his shoulders to grab her. What he obviously wasn't expecting was for her to essentially leap-frog him; she jumped up, putting her hands on his shoulders for leverage, flipping over him and landing cleanly behind him. That combined with the lack of impact caused him to overbalance and land flat on his face.

She realized who it was when he started cursing profusely in German, rubbing his now obviously bald head- Georg. He stood up and turned to face her, growling deeply and looking as though he was planning on charging again. She readied herself for another attack, only to be pleasantly surprised when one of the metal plaques on the wall briefly glowed green before flinging itself at the gargantuan German's head. It hit its target with a resounding clang, sending him reeling, clutching his abused head as Sive darted past him. She came to a stop next to Tech just as Rev landed next to them.

"Next time, don't just zip off," Tech said to Rev admonishingly.

"Well-I-didn't-think-there-would-be-a-problem-but-then-I-ran-into-these-two-and-they-were-acting-weird-and-then-they-said-that-what-I-had-seen-was-real-and-"

"Talk about it later, guys," Sive interjected, watching warily as Georg steadied himself and the other approached.

"So I see you're all awake, now. And ve vere hoping to do zis quietly, too," the distinct voice of the Colonel drawled as he came to a stop next to Georg. "Pity."

"What're you playing at?" Tech asked accusingly.

"You'll find out soon enough," was the cryptic answer. "I just hope ze others are having more luck zan ve are."

"The others?" Tech repeated quietly, turning the words over in his mind to figure out their implication. He let out a quiet gasp when he did. "They're going after all of us!" he said to Sive and Rev.

"Oh, great," Sive groaned, "because this has been going so well as it is…"

"We've-got-to-warn-the-other-guys-or-help-them-or-something!" Rev whispered.

"Right. Sive, Rev, one of you two get past these two and get the others, and the other one stick with me," Tech ordered. He knew that of the three of them, they had the best chances of getting away.

"Got it," Sive replied as the two larger men started approaching them threateningly. "Well, I don't know about you two, but I like starting with the upper hand, so if you know what's good for you, cover your eyes."

Tech and Rev immediately knew what she had in mind, and complied unhesitatingly. Once they had done that, Sive formed a small, low power but high-intensity electricity orb in her hand that was smaller than a ping-pong ball. She let it drop, and it flashed brightly and was accompanied by a loud thunder crack- a Sive-brand flash bang.

And then all hell broke loose.

**A/N: A little cliffhanger-ey, but this was the size of two chapters as it was, and it would have been really tricky to try cutting it off elsewhere without making this chapter really short and adding in an extra chapter.**

**Speaking of extra chapters, I'd like an opinion regarding updating from those who review. For the next chapter, would you prefer a) one, ridiculously long, but probably late chapter, that seems like it should be divided into two based on the content, b) one, longer but on-time chapter followed by a short chapter, most likely also with the two-week waiting period, or c) two regular length chapters on regular time with the second one seeming like it should be two separate ones based on content. I'd like to know what you'd rather see happen, because my judgment isn't always (hardly ever) what the majority would like.**

**Thanks for reading, and please review! **


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Eurgh, this took **_**forever**_**! This is by far the longest single chapter I've ever written, at 7,500-or-so words. XD This is like, four of my regular chapters put together. Anywho, **_**lots**_** of action in this chapter, and silly me forgot to mention the fact that the 'game' would be explained here! Oh, well, now you know. **

**Anywho, the parts that seem like they shouldn't be here are the parts after the fourth series of x's and o's, I believe. Something like that. It's the last two parts, so you'll know when you get there. The very first part of this chapter goes back in time a bit from the end of the last chapter, but it's fairly easy to keep up with. …Please tell me if I'm wrong about that, though, because the writer's perspective and the reader's perspective are two completely different things.**

"Hey, dere!" Ace said loudly, thoroughly surprising the Lieutenant, who yelped and jumped as high as he was tall, losing his glasses in the process.

"Dear Lord in heaven!" he exclaimed, steadying himself on the wall and holding a hand to his chest. "Are you t-trying to give me a h-heart attack?"

"Sorry," Ace said with a shrug and fake earnesty. "Wasn't tryin' ta startle ya."

"Oh, i-it's quite alright," the short man stuttered as he collected himself, standing up straight and replacing his glasses on his almost nonexistent nose. It didn't escape Ace's notice that he also shifted his stance slightly so as to block his view of the crossbow. "Ah, m-may I help you with so-something?"

"Actually," Ace began, making it up as he went along, "I just wanted ta tell ya dat da dogs got out. Looked like dey got an animal. I saw it happen out my window."

"O-oh, r-really? H-how unfortunate," the Lieutenant said as earnestly as he was able. He was a poor actor, and it was obvious that his stutter got worse as he became more nervous. "I-I'll be sure t-to tell the C-Colonel. Th-they're his dogs, a-after all."

"Alright. And maybe ya can answer one other thing for me?" Ace said. The Lieutenant's actions made him dead-set in his new opinion- something was wrong, and the six men of the island were a part of it.

"Y-yes?"

"I heard gunshots. Any reason why?" Ace asked bluntly, making the Lieutenant flinch with his words.

"Oh, u-u-u-uh, w-w-well," the Lieutenant stuttered, desperately trying to come up with an excuse. "Y-you see, we-"

"And any reason it looked like one a ya shot da somethin' dat ya dogs found?" Ace asked with growing accusation in his voice.

"Th-there's really a g-good explanation. W-we...import game, y-you see, and have h-hunts right here, o-on the island," the diminutive Brit finally stated with a sure nod of the head. "W-we do it all the time, a-and were in the middle of a h-hunt. We c-couldn't put it off, e-even with your a-arrival."

"Really? What kinda game do ya get?" Ace asked, noting how relieved the Lieutenant looked, going so far as to give a barely-there smile at Ace's supposed acceptance of the reason. Too bad he was about to rain on his parade. "Because from what I saw, it looked like a person dat ya dogs attacked and den ya shot in cold blood."

The Lieutenant's face fell to one of startled realization before shifting back into panic. He now knew that Ace was onto them- not good. Especially since he was the leader of the Loonatics, one of if not the most skilled member of said team, and the Lieutenant didn't have any help.

"Ah, w-w-w-well..." the now flustered Brit began, though he knew he was just grasping at straws that weren't even there to grasp."Y-y-you see-"

"What's goin' on around here, doc?" Ace asked accusingly, his dark look and tone leaving no room for any more excuses. He wasn't sure what the Lieutenant would do when cornered, so he inconspicuously kept his arms loose at his sides while shifting to the balls of his feet, ready to move at a moment's notice.

The Lieutenant took a cowardly step back, nervously adjusting his glasses and wringing his now very sweaty hands. "O-oh, uh, n-nothing, of course, w-w-why would y-you ever th-think that s-s-something was-"

"You've always been a real bad liar, Jennin's," an easily recognizable Texan voice drawled behind Ace, surprising both him and the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant looked very relieved at the new arrival. Ace, on the other hand, immediately pivoted around on one foot to face the new threat, temporarily putting the Lieutenant out of his mind.

Ace briefly wondered why Lexi hadn't warned him of the Major's approach, but he froze in place as he found his answer. For there, hanging limp in the Major's arms, was Lexi. She appeared to be unconscious, and Ace seethed as he caught sight of a taser clipped onto the man's belt.

"Now, why don't we all calm down here fer just a minute, hm?" the Major drawled with a smirk. "I think we'd all appreciate it if ya stepped down a bit- _some_ of us more than others."

He let the threat hang in the air for a moment. Ace was loathe to stand down when he was standing between two of their mysterious and most likely dangerous hosts, but he didn't want the Major to hurt Lexi, either. So, he grudgingly relaxed his stance, leveling an intense glare at the Texan across the room. However, he kept one arm positioned in such a way that he could grab his sword at any moment, just in case.

"That's better," the Major commented.

"What's goin' on, here?" Ace asked, keeping his tone level. "What's de game?"

"Game? The game is you, partner- you and yer team, that is," the Major responded, his smirk widening. Before anyone else could say another word, though, a loud thunder crack echoed throughout the house. This wouldn't have been notable, what with the storm and all, except for the fact that it came from _inside_ the house- _Sive_. "Speak of the devil- sounds like they're havin' trouble."

"Or _yer_ friends are de ones havin' trouble," Ace retorted.

"Oh, I think not. Ya see, we're not as isolated as ya'll might think out here," the Major informed. "While the Colonel don't listen to the news much, I do. I knew a lot about ya'll, and I knew enough ta know we'd be alright if we separated ya. Ya operate fine as a team, but ya need improvement while on yer own."

Ace scowled as he realized that the Major had picked up on something he himself had noticed previously. Ace knew that they tended to be overpowered fairly easily when separated, and had been trying to figure out a good way to fix that. So far he hadn't come up with much that was reasonable, and in the meantime he could only hope no one would notice and take advantage of that fact. Obviously, their luck had just run out.

"Ya still didn't answer my question," Ace reminded him, trying to stall for time. "What's up around here, doc?"

"You'll know soon enough," the Major replied, his smirk taking on a slightly sadistic look as he slightly adjusted his gaze to something just over Ace's shoulder.

It was then that Ace realized that he had maybe pushed the Lieutenant a little _too_ far out of his mind, almost completely forgetting the smaller man's presence. He heard the distinct sound of quietly clanging metal as he pivoted back around to face the Brit, but didn't realize what it was until he received a surprisingly strong hit to the face with the fireplace shovel.

**xoxoxoxox**

"Tu eres loco, hombre!"* Sive shouted in angry Spanish as she ducked another swing from Georg. The guy really knew how to hold a grudge, and was surprisingly quick for someone his size.

After dropping the flash bang, the three Loonatics had used the momentary distraction to their advantage. All-in-all, it wasn't nearly as effective as they had hoped it would be- the Colonel had recovered almost immediately from the blinding light and had managed to grab Rev by the collar of his shirt, flinging him back towards Tech with a fair amount of force. Sive, on the other hand, had managed to put a little distance between herself and the others before Georg caught up, 'a little' being the operative words- she could still see Tech, Rev and the Colonel going at it behind her if she took the time to look.

Georg was evidently still mad about being bested by someone less than half his size, and seemed to be trying to beat Sive into a fine powder based off of the force of his punches. He wasn't letting Sive get past him, even with her phasing ability, roaring and swinging wildly each time she tried.

Sive, on the other hand, was focusing on avoiding being killed. She used the massive German's moment of confusion at her Spanish outburst to her advantage, taking the opportunity to jump off the ground and give him a mid-air roundhouse kick to the face. She immediately had to shuffle backwards upon landing; her kick, just like all of her previous hits, hadn't done much other than make him madder. She just couldn't hit with enough force to hurt him. In fact, she doubted anyone other than Slam could.

She executed a back flip off of her hands to avoid another potentially devastating blow, flipping once more to get back on her feet. She would've darted away again, if it weren't for the fact that she ended up near a wall and almost impaled herself on the antler of a mounted deer as she turned around. She carefully sidestepped around it, darting along the wall to avoid another charge from Georg.

If it were someone else chasing after her, she would've gladly given them a few thousand volts of electricity and called it a day. However, as far as she could tell, the six men of the island were regular people, 'regular' in the sense that they didn't have any powers. No powers meant to special durability. It was a given that someone who had powers could typically take a few hits; regular people, on the other hand, couldn't quite stand up to lasers, psychinetic blasts, electricity, etc. She was more likely to kill Georg than anything else, which was the last thing she wanted to do.

...However, the idea became more appealing when he punched the wall with enough force to bust a hole in it right where her head had been nanoseconds before. The hit didn't even phase him, but it did give Sive an idea.

"Nicht mehr bewegen, du kleiner Schädling!"** he shouted angrily, taking another wild swing as Sive ducked out of the way.

"Hey, tonto***, over here!" Sive shouted to draw his attention as she darted back down the hall towards Tech, Rev, and the Colonel. She quickly looked back behind her and was pleased to see that the enraged German was hot on her heels. "That's it, follow the leader!"

She slowed down so that he could get right up behind her, then suddenly made a sharp turn so she was running right for the wall. She stole a quick glance behind her, seeing him getting ready to swing another punch, and made her move. There was a tall marble column in front of her, about seven feet tall and intricately designed with a stuffed rodent of some sort displayed on top. Once she reached it, just as Georg was throwing his punch, she jumped up, grabbed the top edge of it, and swung her legs out so she ended up doing a handstand on top. From there she happily watched as Georg punched the column hard enough to crack the stone and leave a fist-shaped mark in it.

As she flipped off the column over Georg, landing lightly behind him as he howled over his injured hand, she spared a moment to check in on Tech and Rev. It appeared as though the Colonel was deceptively skilled and crafty; he was doing an exceptional job at keeping the two Loonatics occupied, agilely avoiding an attack from one and redirecting it at the other, leading to many near-misses and instances of friendly fire. However, she could easily see that the older man was getting very frustrated very fast.

It didn't take very long for him to run out of patience and do something dirty and underhanded as all bad guys were so prone to doing. He took a quick step back, dodging a run from Rev and putting Tech into the speeding roadrunner's path. As they reorganized themselves, the Colonel took the opportunity to reach behind him for one of the hanging trophies on the wall, producing a metal weapon that looked like an odd cross between a golf club and a lacrosse stick. He held it so it was behind him and running parallel to his body, unable to be seen by Tech and Rev.

That is, until Rev started making another pass at him, and he raised the blunt object with obvious intent.

Sive knew Rev's stopping time needed improvement, and he was too close to move or for Tech to react in time. So, she moved on auto-pilot, quickly raising one hand and firing off the weakest bold of electricity she could. The problem with weak bolts was that it was extremely difficult to control their direction, even harder than a powerful blast. Fortunately she didn't have to concentrate that hard to make it work; the club acted as a lightning rod, drawing the electricity toward it and sending the current right to the Colonel's hands. He yelped from the surprise pain and dropped the club, profusely swearing in German, before receiving a hit worthy of a NFL linebacker from Rev that flung him backward into the wall.

It had looked as though their luck was changing for all of three seconds. Sive had taken too long of a moment to check in on and help her teammates; Georg had gotten more than enough time to recover and launch a new assault on the young coyote. The fact that Sive barely had to concentrate on her lightning attack meant that she had plenty of time to react to and dodge the first punch he threw at her, ducking and twisting out of the way. The second punch, however, she didn't see coming until it hit her square in the chest with the force of a freight train, actually lifting her off the ground and sending her flying away from the others.

She managed to angle herself so that she rolled when she landed, but she didn't move once she stopped. She squeezed her eyes shut, planting a hand on her now badly bruised chest as she desperately gasped for air. She knew Georg would probably be intent on finishing the job, but she knew there was no way she'd be moving at any time in the near future.

Tech had seen Sive take the hit, and was immediately worried when she didn't move upon landing. Georg approaching the downed coyote with menacing intent didn't help, either. He didn't think Rev had seen Sive go down, too busy with taking a flying pass at the Colonel, who had retrieved his weapon and was wildly swinging at the flying menace. Tech figured Rev could handle himself against the Colonel for a bit, so he started running along the wall past the two, intent on helping Sive before Georg could hurt her again, or worse.

The Colonel, however, had other ideas, spinning around and swinging at Tech as he got within range, temporarily ignoring the flying roadrunner. Tech jumped back, twisting with surprising flexibility to avoid the blow and angry that the Colonel was keeping him away from his downed teammate. So, as the older German moved to take another swing at him with the metallic club, Tech used his magnetism, centering his power on the club and using his hold to halt the Colonel's swing, push the club into his chest, and used it to force the Colonel to the ground as he darted past.

He made the mistake of 'letting go' of the club, freeing it from his magnetic grasp as soon as the Colonel hit the ground. The Colonel immediately then used the hooked end of the club to catch one of Tech's feet, tripping him up and pulling him down. Tech, realizing he was getting nowhere fast and alarmed with how close to Sive Georg was getting, settled on another tactic- an assist.

"Rev!" he called up to the roadrunner circling around overhead in the high ceilinged room as he scrambled to his feet. Rev stopped moving and looked down at Tech. "Help Sive!" he shouted up before again becoming a flurry of movement as the Colonel also stood up and began swinging at him like a baseball player again.

Rev turned to see what the other coyote was having trouble with, slightly confused at why she would need assistance considering how well she was doing in her fight a short time ago. Upon seeing her situation that was worsening with each step Georg took, though, he immediately sprung into action, passing over them once and then making a u-turn so he could run into Georg from the front, forcing him to take a step or two back from Sive.

He continued to make passes at the German giant, sometimes outright ramming into him and other times just hitting him however he was able as he passed. It did nothing in terms of actually hurting him, but it did sufficiently draw his attention away from Sive so she could recover. Luckily that seemed to be happening rather quickly despite the potentially devastating blow she had received; her breathing was almost back to normal, and she no longer had a pained grimace on her face.

Sive was, for her part, completely ignoring her surroundings, instead focusing on evening out her breathing again so she could join back in the fight. She knew that in her current state, she was less than no help to her two teammates, and she was aware of Rev's so far successful attempts to fend off Georg. Once she was almost completely back to normal, she opened her eyes and carefully propped herself up on her elbows to get the lay of the land again.

Tech was doing fairly well against the Colonel, even though he was on his own. The older German was relying heavily on his metal club, and Tech was using that to his own advantage with his magnetism. It wouldn't be long before Tech had the Colonel totally subdued and came to help deal with Georg, and all three of them together should have been more than enough to handle the enraged gorilla of a man. Rev seemed to be having an easy enough time with it on his own, constantly making flying passes at the overwhelmed Georg. He was moving too fast for the German to keep up with, and his repeated futile attempts to swat the roadrunner out of the air were consistently met with disappointment. He used the same tactic over and over, essentially using his oversized mitts as giant fly swats.

And then Georg got smart.

As Rev started to make another pass, he moved as if to attempt another pointless swing. Then, at the last second, he changed tactics fast enough that Sive didn't have a chance to warn Rev of the impending danger. Georg seemingly overreached, his fist ending beyond where Rev was and missing entirely. This put Rev slightly at ease, which was why he didn't react in his usual timely way when Georg snapped his hand back, grabbing the speeding roadrunner by the collar and bringing him to a quick, unpleasant stop. He then proceeded to throw poor Rev across the room with enough force that he couldn't stop himself by starting to fly. Luck apparently wasn't with the group of Loonatics that night, and in fact seemed to be screwing with them for its own enjoyment, because Georg just so happened to throw Rev right at Tech. Neither noticed this of course until the roadrunner collided with the coyote's back, sending them both sprawling onto the floor.

Sive winced at the impact and sincerely hoped that they were alright, but she wasn't allowed much of a chance to do anything about it; Georg was now free of any other distractions, and he took that time to finish what he originally intended to do. Sive, quickly deciding the massive German was far too close for comfort, scrambled backwards as best as she could to put some distance between them so she could get to her feet again, only for her back to meet the wall a few feet away.

Rapidly realizing that no options were good options, she could only watch nervously as Georg stopped when he was almost on top of her, snarling down with a look that could kill in his eyes. As he raised the massive meat cleaver he called a fist, she settled on the only option that seemed open to her that didn't end in an unpleasant death or seriously debilitating injury- at least, she hoped it wouldn't. While she didn't want to leave her teammates behind in whatever condition they were or were not in, she didn't have a choice.

As he swung his fist, she phased. She felt his fist connect with where her head was, traveling through and connecting with the floor, prompting another howl from the crazy German. Unfortunately, due to the position she was in, Sive couldn't stay on the surface she was currently resting on like she usually could. Instead, she phased right through the floor, ending up coming through the ceiling of the first floor back-first. Sive, upon realizing she was about to become a poor, unfortunate victim of physics, shrieked as she free-fell to the floor below.

**xoxoxoxox**

Duck was, to put it simply, panicking. He had been awoken by the sound of an enraged shout from Slam earlier, only to be pulled head-first into a full on brawl between Slam, the old General, and Peter. The General was a surprisingly able adversary, using his superior size to his advantage against the comparatively puny mallard, while Slam and Peter were deadlocked. It eventually reached a point where Duck was cornered, and it was a do-something-or-get-killed scenario. He didn't want to risk using his eggs against the old man, either because it wouldn't do anything or quite possibly kill him, so he had no choice but to quickly quack away. He hadn't had a specific destination in mind, though, and while he knew he was somewhere inside the house, he had no idea _where_, so he couldn't quack back to help Slam, who he was now very worried for. While the massive Tasmanian devil could handle a lot, two large men who quite possibly equaled him in strength didn't fall under that category.

Duck was running blindly, making random turns and darting down dark hallways in an attempt to find a way back to where he had been. He didn't even know what _floor_ he was on, much less what area of the house. He came to the end of one hall and, seeing a flicker of light at the end of another hallway, took off in that direction. About halfway through, though, he heard something from overhead that made him stop short. It had sounded like a massive _thud_- nothing good in his book. He was contemplating quacking up there to see what it was, when he heard something else odd- a girlish shriek. Next thing he knew, something landed on him and plastered him to the floor. It did answer his question as to where the shriek came from, though.

"You know, there _are _more conventional means of entry out there," he grumbled indignantly to the groaning coyote on his back.

"Duck?" Sive asked confusedly, quickly sitting up so the mallard could get out from under her. She sat up a little _too_ quickly, though, prompting her to hiss and put a hand on her chest.

"What happened to you?" Duck asked, noticing the coyote's pain. "Were you attacked, too?"

"Yes, by two out of the three crazy Germans. You?" she ground out, rubbing her abused chest as she looked up at the ceiling she had just come through. It was higher up than she thought- alarmingly high, actually. "Thanks for breaking my fall, by the way."

"Don't mention it," he shot back before answering her question. "Slam and I have been dealing with crazy German number three and the General. I had to quack away in order to avoid having my head pounded flat."

"Ditto, but I had to exit via ceiling- floor?- whatever." She grunted as she stood up, looking around to get her bearings again. "We've got to get back there and help the others."

"That's what I've been trying to do, except I have no idea where I am," Duck admitted as he also got to his feet.

"The stairs should be over here," Sive said as she took off in the direction Duck had been going in at a light jog, Duck not far behind. "How do you think Slam's doing on his own?"

"Not good. Tech and Rev?" Duck asked.

"The same. Have you seen Ace and Lexi?"

"I was hoping you had." They continued in silence after that, letting the words hang between them. They were both incredibly afraid for their teammates- even Duck. He may have always acted like he hadn't cared in the past, but that was just his way of coping with it. Unless it was really bad, of course, like this was.

The hallway took them back to the entry hall, near the foot of the stairs, but before they could even enter the room, they had to immediately hit the brakes and sprint off back the way they came. For there, waiting for them at the foot of the stairs, was Peter and the General. Unfortunately for the two Loonatics, they hadn't moved fast enough, and the two large men took off after their quarry.

Duck and Sive turned down one hallway, running as fast as they possibly could, which was not as fast as either wanted to be going. On a good day, Duck could quack along fast enough in short increments to keep up with Sive, but thanks to her injury, they were running at about an even pace, and Duck wasn't known for breaking any speed records.

They had to suddenly stop and turn around again as a hidden door opened and the Colonel emerged from a hidden staircase, slightly twisted club in hand, and joined the chase. As they neared the original two chasing them, Duck quacked and ended up far past them while Sive ran straight for the General, not interested in having the other crazy brother out to get her, and she neatly phased through the old man as he lunged at her. She quickly caught up with Duck, and they continued on in the other direction, trying to move faster as the Lieutenant now made his way out of the woodwork, running in from the entry hall and joining the chase.

"Why are they all chasing us?" Duck asked stupidly, panic evident in his voice.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe they think it's fun?" Sive retorted, not putting the obvious answer of 'because we're the only two they haven't caught yet' into words. She looked around the hallway they were in, looking for a way out, immediately recognizing where they were thanks to a particularly unnerving stuffed coyote, and came up with a quick idea. "Brace yourself," she advised to Duck quickly as she took a few sideways steps away from him even as they continued running.

"For wha-AAH!" Duck asked, his words turning into an invective as he was suddenly tackled from the side and pushed into, no, _through_ the opposite wall where he and Sive landed in a heap. "Do you _have_ to keep doing that?"

"It got us away, didn't it?" she asked rhetorically as she looked around the room they were now in. She had judged it right- they were in the dining room. She looked around for a minute before spotting a thinly disguised door, picking herself up off the floor and walking to it. "Come on- the kitchen should be back here."

"Now is not the time for a midnight snack!" Duck exclaimed as he stood up, though he did still follow her.

"No, Duck- there should be a back exit through there."

"Oh." He kept quiet for a moment, letting the implications of her words sink in. "Wait! You want to _leave_ the house?" 

"It's better than staying here and being an easy target," Sive retorted. "Besides, they'll be spending so much time looking for us, we can formulate a plan to help get our teammates back."

"'Formulate'? You've been spending too much time with Tech," Duck said as Sive cautiously poked her head through the door, making sure it was clear for them. That was essentially his way of saying 'nice plan, why didn't I think of that?', so Sive ignored him, instead waving him through to say 'all clear' as she phased through the door.

The kitchen was fairly sparse, and unlike the rest of the house, nothing special. It was large, for sure, and wouldn't look out of place in a fancy hotel or something of the like, but nothing overly ostentatious. They silently made their way through the kitchen, Duck going so far as tiptoeing, all the while looking for a door. There was a window on the opposite wall, and the lightning did nothing to ease the eerie feeling. Even with the storm, it was alarmingly quiet, and they were both as tense as coiled springs. Sive idly thought of the phrase "the calm before the storm."

There were three large doors on the opposite end of the kitchen. One quite obviously led to pantry, and the other to what was probably an industrial sized refrigerator. The third was a mystery, and they could only hope that it led somewhere that was outdoors and hunter-free.

"Okay," Sive whispered to Duck as they crouched behind a countertop. "You stay here for a minute and be my lookout. I'm going to go see where that door-"

She paused as she heard something weird- a quiet _put_ sound, like someone using a cheap air gun. She realized what it was about a half-second later, when she felt a sharp pain in her arm followed by a quickly spreading numbness. She quickly grasped her arm where the pain originated, surprised to feel that her other limb felt like lead, then less so when he felt what had implanted itself near her shoulder- a small dart, do doubt loaded with some kind of drug.

"Duck," she said quickly, for she could feel herself starting to teeter over as her vision was going fuzzy, "_Run_!"

He took one look at the dart in her arm, look conflicted for a moment, then decided that it was the best course of action, quacking away with a regretful look on his face, obviously not wanting to leave another teammate behind. It was the best thing to do, though, because he couldn't take Sive with him, and he still had a pretty good chance of getting away on his own. Sive knew this, and didn't think badly of him because of it. And yet, she found herself unable to think much at all- whatever that dart had been loaded with, it worked _fast_. She was laid out flat on the floor before Duck even fully disappeared, unable to move anything and rapidly approaching unconsciousness. She was vaguely aware of the Major filling what was left of her increasingly diminishing field of vision right before finally blacking out.

**xoxoxoxox**

Duck ended up who-knows-where yet again, this time at a dead end in a hallway. He took a moment to lean on the wall with one hand, back to the hallway, and catch his breath. The mallard really wasn't built for quacking around so much so many times in quick succession. That, and he felt absolutely terrible with himself. He had left _another_ one of his teammates. Granted, she had told him to run, but he still shouldn't have left her alone to deal with who-knows-what while he made his escape. Besides, he didn't even know if he could get away by himself. He sure as heck didn't think he could help his friends on his own- he wasn't good at making plans. Ones that worked, anyway.

He was pulled, or more accurately, forcibly yanked out of his musings upon hearing an angry growl behind him. He instantly spun around, only to be met by a very unhappy-looking Georg, who was already winding up a punch. Duck knew he wouldn't be able to quack away this time.

"Mother," he squeaked, looking up at the crazed German with fear written all over his face.

**xoxoxoxox**

Ace awoke with a groan. Everything felt sore, he was lying on something hard and uncomfortable, and there was an annoying dripping sound coming from somewhere that was grating on his nerves. He felt as though he hadn't slept in days, and he was frustrated that everything seemed to be keeping him awake. The fact that he felt as if he had been hit in the face with a sledgehammer didn't help matters any. However, upon remembering that this wasn't too far from the truth, he shot to his feet, immediately drawing his sword from his belt and standing in a fighting stance, ready to take on any adversary.

He felt a little foolish upon realizing that he was alone, though. He was in a small room- more of a cell, really- that couldn't have been more than 7'x7'. There were no windows, the room lighted by harsh artificial light, and the ground was just packed earth, so he assumed he was in the basement, if he was still in the house at all. The walls looked like piled cinderblocks, there was one heavily armored door on one wall, and the ceiling was a network of pipes, one of which leaded into one corner of the little cell.

He relaxed after a moment, accepting the fact that he was alone as he went over just what had happened to land him in that situation. Next time, he reasoned, he would listen to Lexi. He then mentally stalled as he realized he had no idea where she was, or if she was alright. In fact, he had no idea if _any_ of his teammates were okay.

He strode up to the door with purpose, intent on getting out and tracking down his friends. He moved as if to put his sword away, and then paused, giving the blade a funny look. Why did he still have it? It had been in plain view, clipped to the back of his belt like it always was. So why hadn't the obviously not-quite-right-in-the-head ex-military men not take it away? He shook his head, remembering why he had gone into acting and not criminal psychology, putting away his sword and facing the door from a few feet away. He felt the familiar pressure begin to build up behind his eyes as he started charging a laser beam, intent on blasting the door down.

Before he could even finish charging, though, there was a loud _clank _from the door. He relaxed slightly, only to immediately tense again as the door opened, redrawing his sword to combat whatever came through the door. He snarled as the Major casually waltzed in, smirk set on his face. He paused momentarily upon realizing he was on the wrong end of Ace's blade, though he looked completely unfazed and held his ground.

"Now that's not very nice," the Texan stated, giving Ace a disapproving look as though he were scolding a child.

"I think we stopped bein' 'nice' a while ago," Ace growled, repositioning his sword to better be able to strike at the Major if need be. While he was against seriously injuring and/or killing anyone, he'd do what was necessary to help his team.

"Eh, fair enough," the Major acquiesced. "I'd still recommend puttin' that thing down, though. Wouldn't want anyone gettin' hurt, after all."

"I don't know- it doesn't seem like such a bad idea ta me," Ace retorted, again putting his sword into a better position.

"I hear ya loud n' clear, but I wasn't talkin' 'bout me," the Major stated, his smirk returning. "Ya see, we got cameras in here, and if ya try anythin' funny, well...one a yer teammates might just regret it."

Ace leveled a fierce glare at the blonde man, not happy at all that he continued to use his friends against him. He didn't doubt that they would hurt the others, though, and Ace didn't want to be responsible for it, so he grudgingly put away his sword.

"There ya go," the Major said, lax as ever. "Now, I'm gonna spell things out for ya nice and clear, so just listen fer a minute, 'kay?"

He didn't give Ace a chance to get a word in, instead leaning against the wall and continuing his monologue. "So, remember how Jennin's said we have hunts here by importin' game? That wasn't entirely false- we just don't import, per say. Rather, it comes to us."

The Major paused here, obviously wanting Ace to draw his own conclusion. The bunny gave him a questioning look, trying to see what the Major wanted him to see. Then, with horrifying clarity, it all clicked. Everything fit together like a puzzle, and the image they made was terrifying and sickening.

The missing boaters…

The perfect conditions leading to boat crashes…

The island lying in the perfect place to catch castaways…

The strange men with a hunting fetish…

Lexi's dream…

"You're hunting _people_!" Ace breathed, a look of absolute horror on his face.

"There ya go! I knew ya'd get it eventually," the Major exclaimed with mock applause.

"But, th-that's _murder_, you're killin' people, _innocent_ people, in cold blood, for _what_?- some _enjoyment_? That's just sick!"

"Call it what ya want- we've heard it all before, and yet we still sleep fine at night," the Major stated indifferently with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. "Ya see, we got tired of huntin' regular old game- animals're just plain dumb. They're way too easy ta catch fer us. So, we had ta…step it up a bit. Keep it interestin'."

"So, the guy you shot last night-"

"Was one a those _Free Spirit_ people, yep," the Major finished. "They washed up here a 'lil more than a week ago. Ya understand why we couldn't tell ya, o' course. I'll get ta that in a minute. Anyway, as I was sayin', old-fashioned game warn't doin' it fer us anymore, so long story short, we started huntin' people. Why? Because- people can reason, they can be unpredictable, make smart decisions, give us thrillin' chases. O' course, we haven't lost one yet, and eventually, like it has recently, it starts getting' boring." The Major's smirk grew again, and took on that sadistic glint Ace had seen earlier. "And then ya'll come along and change tha whole game."

Ace leveled another questioning look at the Texan, wondering what he meant. Were they worried that the Loonatics would eventually be on to them? Stop them from doing…what they were doing? If that was the case, why help them? And then, the answer suddenly hit Ace like the fireplace shovel.

They were going to hunt the Loonatics.

"That's right," the Major said in response to the look that had seemingly permanently plastered itself to Ace's face. "This'll definitely be an interestin' hunt. Though now that I think about it, it's kinda a step back from huntin' people…" The blonde man took a moment to chuckle at his joke before continuing. "Jokin' aside, there're some things yer gonna need ta know. The four of us like makin' a game outta our hunts- a competition of sorts. We all have our own respective targets, and if we get all of 'em, then we win. If we get some of somebody else's, even better. Now, what's gonna happen is in a little while, this door's gonna open again automatically. A path will be open to ya that leads outside. Ya can do whatever ya want out dere- just remember that we're after ya. Ya'll have one week- if we don't catch ya by then, then ya win. If not…well, I think ya get that part. Survivin' on this island is easy enough, and ya even still have ya powers and, in yer case, yer sword. It ain't fair if our quarry is somehow debilitated."

"What happens if we win?" Ace asked, getting over his initial shock.

"Then ya go free," the Major said in an isn't-it-obvious? tone. Ace had a feeling it wouldn't be so simple. "And by the way, I'd only worry about yerself out there. Yer goin' out alone, anyway."

"What about my team?" Ace asked angrily, worried about the implications behind his voice.

"The same thing, just different timin'. Like I said, we know you guys're more manageable separated. Besides, somethin's gotta make sure ya don't just try ta kill any of us- ya know ya'd be driven to it eventually."

Ace seethed at the words. At least he knew that they'd also be out there at some point or another- it was actually finding them that he 'd have issue with. Not impossible, but it would definitely be difficult. And then there was the whole problem of avoiding being shot…

"And if I don't want ta play yer game?" Ace asked, defiantly crossing his arms and leveling a challenging glare at the smug Texan, who had gotten up from the wall and made as if to leave.

"Ah, you don't really have much of a choice in tha matter. Ya could always forfeit, but it's…not recommended, ta say tha least," the Major said over one shoulder, leaving him with one final smirk as the door closed again, locking Ace inside.

The second he was gone, Ace decided to take out his frustrations on the wall, angrily punching it once before sitting down on the ground again. He felt incredibly guilty. Sive, Tech, and Lexi had all noticed something was wrong, the latter even going so far as to bluntly tell him to his face, and yet he had been too dense to notice it, too stubborn to believe it right away. And now look where he was, and who knew what his teammates were going through at that point?

One thing that continuously passed through his mind was when Lexi had warned him of the impending danger. He hadn't believed her, gotten mad at her even, and before apologizing could even cross his mind he had been clocked by a fireplace shovel, she had gotten tased, and he had been thrown into a cell while only God knew what happened to Lexi. He had been angry with her last time he saw her…and she had been correct in her suspicions. He just hoped he would have the chance to apologize.

**xoxoxoxox**

It seemed like hours had passed since his little talk with the Major. It may have actually been that long- Ace had no perception of time in his little windowless cell. But it appeared as though it was time.

He jumped as the telltale _clink_ of the lock unlatching echoed in the silence of the cell before the door opened. He hesitated a moment, then walked out the door. There was a corridor, made of the same cinder blocks and dirt floor as his cell, with the same artificial light, and it only led in one direction. He followed it, hoping to see other doors along the way, hoping to at least catch a glimpse of his team, make sure they were alright.

He was disappointed. The corridor led to an uphill slope, which he followed until reaching another closed door. There was a quiet buzz, and then suddenly the door swung open, letting in some natural light and a view of the sky.

Ace stepped out, surprised to find himself outside in front of the house. The empty field stretched in front of him- so that they could see if any of their 'prey' were coming, he now knew- the dense forest lay beyond, and he heard the sea crashing on the cliffs below. It was day, but still very cloudy. At least it wasn't raining anymore. So, with one last harsh look back at the manor, he set off into the woods, intent on getting some kind of a head start. He didn't know where he was going, or what he'd find, but he was sure in his movements.

He had no idea what he was getting into, but he was determined. To outdo the hunters. To find his team. To ensure they all got safely home. To survive.

**A/N: GAH, that was long! XD I'm never doing this ever again. Too unruly. I typically average about 2K words per chapter, 4K on a long one, but this was just ridiculous. **

**Anywho, next chapter- begin the hunt! It's kinda nonstop action and/or suspense from here, so buckle in! Quick note, though- the next chapter's probably going to be late. My English teacher assigned us this research paper that is kicking me in the a^*. I actually should have worked on it some today, but this was just more fun. XD I'll try to make up for the lateness with length, but no promises. **

**R&R!**

*You're crazy, man! (Spanish)  
>**Stop moving, you little pest! (German)<br>***idiot (Spanish)


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Surprise! Early chapter! XD I know I said this would probably be late, but I procrastinated again on that research paper… XD Oh, well, I'm almost done with it, anyway. Besides, I was sick all weekend and that left plenty of time to type! Plus, the reviews I got for the last chapter were particularly motivating. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! Your words are the bright spot to my week!**

**So, for these next upcoming chapters, the 'Day X' heading will be at the top. There will probably be two or three chapters per day unless I crank out another really long one. And fair warning, there's going to be a distinct lack of dialogue these next couple chapters. I don't think there's any in this chapter at all… It was so **_**weird! **_**I'm known for being very dialogue-y, so this was tricky for me. Ah, well, I managed. Next chapter is up anytime in the next two weeks or so. Count on it being either this weekend or next, depending on just how much I procrastinate!  
><strong>  
><em><span>Day 1<span>_

After a few hours of wandering around, possibly going in circles, Lexi had come to one conclusion- she was horribly lost. It had been incredibly easy to do, especially considering how she hadn't really known where she had been going in the first place, but she had intended to stay within listening distance of the house. That way she could have heard if anyone left and tracked their location from a safe distance. While listening for the hunters was a very good idea, her main worry was figuring out where her friends were.

The 'game' had been explained to her a few hours earlier, along with the rest of the story, and it absolutely disgusted her. She still felt sick to her stomach if she thought about it too hard- and yet, it was a sick concept. Hunting people, like animals- it was murder on a large scale, a set of serial killers on the loose and ready to hunt down whoever crossed their path for their own sick enjoyment. How many had already been unfortunate enough to come into contact with the sadistic hunters? How many had died by their hand? How...

Lexi stopped where she was, momentarily supporting herself against a tree as she held her aching stomach and put a hand over her mouth, trying to take deep, calming breaths through her nose as she derailed that particular train of thought. She had more important things to be doing other than making herself sick- like finding her team before someone more unpleasant did. She knew that, with Rev's GPS down, she had the best chance of locating the others with her hearing. Keeping this in mind, while she had the chance to keep still, she focused intently on her ears, listening closely to her surroundings.

It could be the most calming thing in the world, just listening. When she was in the city, high enough off the ground that buildings didn't interfere, she could hear for miles on a windless day. Car engines, subway trains, twittering birds, barking dogs, laughing people...busy, but offering a cool comfort, showing that somewhere nearby, no matter what was happening, life carried on. However, she wasn't in the city, high above the ground on a windless day- she was stuck in the middle of a forest with storm-force winds. The sounds she heard- cracking branches, running water, billowing winds- rebounded confusingly off the trees and traveled in circles on the wind to the point she wouldn't have been able to begin to guess where it was coming from. Even more disheartening, she couldn't hear anyone else- a blessing and a curse.

She huffed with irritation, lowering her ears and sagging against the tree. Trying to hear anything in that mess was going to be impossible, even if she waited until the wind died down.

Straightening up, she continued walking, this time with purpose. Now she had a goal in mind; getting somewhere higher up out of the trees to hear better. That way she could easily track who was where, so long as the wind was with her. She remembered the view of the island from when they swam in- it definitely hadn't been flat. She just had to find one of the higher up areas and get there relatively quickly. The hunters had said they planned to make it fun- they'd surely give them a few hours' head start.

Lexi followed her ears, moving towards the one sound that didn't echo confusingly- the ocean waves. She was apparently close enough to hear it directly, and she was hoping to come to a break in the trees where she could see more of the island. If worse came to worse, she figured she'd be able to climb a tree, but the last thing she wanted to do was get stuck up there and be a sitting duck. Okay, not the best phrase to use in that situation…

Climbing over a recently fallen tree- most likely from the previous night's storm- she completely lost track of that unpleasant image as she found herself in a small clearing covered in sparse grass and strewn with assorted other bits of dead foliage. It led to a sheer drop to the ocean far below, and the trees were sparse enough near the edge to offer a view of the island landscape. The clouds overhead and in the distance were still churning angrily, threatening to bring another downpour, and the wind was still whipping up monster waves in the already treacherous current.

_Well, swimming home's out_, she thought as she peeked over the edge of the cliff at the choppy sea below. She took another half-step forward, trying to see around the surrounding trees to the island beyond, when the cliff crumbled from underneath her foot. With a startled cry, she pitched forward, quickly righting her balance on her remaining foot by awkwardly bending her knee. She hung there for a moment, warring between her balance and the powers of gravity, before suddenly falling backwards, and landing on her butt with a quiet 'Oof!' and a relieved groan.

Of all the many possible ways she could die on the island, Lexi refused to let it be death-by-act-of-stupidity. Instead of just leaning precariously over the cliff, this time she walked over to the fallen tree, grabbing onto one of the loose roots at the end to anchor herself before leaning over the precipice. This way she could see even farther out than before. And now she could clearly see a place a few miles away that was higher up and fairly devoid of pesky trees.

Pulling herself back in with a self satisfied smirk, she calculated that if she hurried, she could possibly reach the spot by nightfall, depending on what time it was right then. If she followed the cliff, she wouldn't get lost. She'd be out in the open, but Lexi figured that even with the wind and trees, she'd hear anyone coming before they saw her.

Keeping this in mind, she began her trek. Now that she had a concrete plan, she felt a little calmer than she did before. She had a strategy, she was staying relatively sane, and for the moment, she was safe. She could only hope that her teammates were faring as well as she was.

**xoxoxoxox**

Elsewhere, Tech was idly walking around, as if taking a purposeless walk through the park on a sunny afternoon. He was even sticking to the trails that were worn in from relatively frequent use. However, he was well aware that he was far from any parks, and it was anything but sunny. A stray rumble of thunder echoed out overhead even as he thought this.

He walked down one trail, lightly running a hand over the nearby trees and brushing against the plants as he walked. He continued down one path before turning right, then doubling back and looping around until he was, again, right back where he started. He repeated this over again before restarting the process on another path.

To anyone who wasn't Tech, it seemed as though he had fallen off his rocker. The trails were a fairly obvious place to stick to, and doubling and redoubling over the path he was taking seemed pointless and unnecessarily time-consuming. It was like he was asking the hunters to find him.

And yet, this was _Tech_. As always, he knew exactly what he was doing. The trails were probably the first place the hunters would look, hence why he was there. By spreading his scent out and doubling over his path, he ensured that the dogs, if and when the hunters started using them, wouldn't be able to follow him. If he stayed near the trails, then they wouldn't be able to find where he actually went. Plus, he'd be able to keep an eye out for the others. From what he could tell, the trails conversed enough of the island that it would be impossible not to cross over them at some point. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

All the while, he was thinking over what had happened. He, too, had received the whole song-and-dance from the General earlier (and had the distinct feeling some things had been left out and/or forgotten,) but he miraculously managed to stay calm and levelheaded. That was in a large part due to his analytical view towards everything. One may think that, in a situation like that, the more he analyzed the more panicked he'd be. The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized that their odds weren't as bleak as he had felt they were.

Ace, as their leader, was a naturally good planner. He was hard to outsmart and even harder to get ahead of. On top of that, in a jungle, he'd be hard to catch. Ace knew when to move and how to move, and the dense forest was essentially a giant jungle gym. He certainly had his limits, but he was well aware of what they were. If he got into a fix, he'd be able to fight his way out both with his powers and hand-to-hand. He'd be one of the hardest of their number to catch.

Many didn't give Rev the credit he deserved in the departments of wit and cleverness. He knew how to use his speed to his advantage, and he'd only go into the air if he knew exactly what he was doing. He was one of if not the most difficult to catch members of the Loonatics. His only drawback was his distractibility. Tech had suspected that the roadrunner had a supreme case of ADHD for a while, but it remained unconfirmed. At any rate, Rev was a difficult target, and Tech could only hope that he stayed focused on surviving.

Duck, while often careless, cocky, and annoying, was also among the hardest to catch. His quacking ability had saved his sorry tail feathers more times than the genius coyote could count, and odds were, it would save him now. While he wasn't known to be the smartest one of their number, when startled, his knee-jerk, force-of-habit reaction was to quack away, making him impossible to pin down. There were, of course, problems with this tactic. He'd be screwed if sneaked up upon, though it was harder to do than one may think. He also had a habit of over-relying on his quacking ability and tiring himself out as a result. Even so, he'd probably be far away from whatever made him quack so much by the time that happened, barring a poor location choice that put him in more trouble. Despite this, wasn't very worried for the mallard.

Lexi, while not usually the cleverest of their group, was smart enough to know what to do to avoid getting caught. Her hearing put her at a fantastic advantage, and made her the most likely one to reunite the team. After the wind died down a bit, of course. At any rate, she was also almost as skilled as Ace and would be able to avoid capture easily enough. She wouldn't be able to handle a fight as well, but she was good enough to avoid it 90% of the time. She, too, wasn't an easy target.

Tech's immediate reaction was to be worried for Sive, though he couldn't quite fathom why, until he remembered something that immediately reversed that feeling. She had evaded the all-encompassing forces of her father on her own for almost a decade- playing cat-and-mouse with four psychotic hunters in the jungle for a week would seem like a game of hide-and-seek with a bunch of five year olds after that. She was by far the cleverest, most cunning member of their team. Her phasing ability made her difficult to pin down and even more difficult to hit, and if worse came to worst, she could always zap whoever was threatening her. Of all the members of the Loonatics, she was perhaps the last one he should have been worried about. He knew this, and yet for whatever reason, he still felt that little bit of worry niggling in the back of his mind.

Slam was the only one Tech could say with complete certainty that he was worried about. While the normally fairly docile Tasmanian devil was nowhere near as dim as he led others to believe, his odds weren't the best in this situation. With his size, it was difficult not to leave a trail, and to be blunt, he was a big target. If he used his tornado, he'd leave an easy to follow trail of debris wherever he went. While he could easily hold his own in any fight, if the hunters managed to get the drop on him, it wouldn't be good. Tech wasn't writing him off by any means, but he did worry for the big guy.

And himself? The hunters seemed to use normal weaponry, and Tech regenerated almost instantaneously. The General had informed him that the Lieutenant was fond of using traps, but Tech figured he was smart enough to avoid getting caught in some trap. Even if he did, he was sure he could get out with his magnetism- it was nigh impossible to make a good trap with absolutely no metal in it. Besides, he was the smartest one on the team- he could easily outwit a few ex-army men who were a few watts short of a light bulb.

Of course, some of this thinking was in terms of what would happen should they get into a fight, and now that he was thinking it over again, he realized that situation was unrealistic. They wouldn't be able to fight off the hunters. For one thing, they weren't bulletproof, and for another, they were using their teammates against them. If one of them hurt the hunters, one of their friends may pay the price. For all Tech knew, he was the only one out in the jungle and the others were still in the house. So long as that was a possibility, the Loonatics would run, not fight. Until they knew their teammates were safe, their only option was to flee.

As Tech rounded the same central bend for the sixth time, he figured he had walked around enough. His legs were sore from all the walking, his back and head ached from the rough treatment the night before, and he was still running on very little sleep. Right then, he would have given his right arm for a cup of coffee and a couch to take a nap on. That not being an option, he figured he'd settle for quickly finding a good vantage point to play lookout for both friends and foes.

He picked out a tree that hung over the edge of the trail. It was a sturdy looking tree with lots of low hanging branches and thick cover from leaves. Without leaving the path he had already walked on, Tech walked directly under the tree and jumped, grabbing on to one of the thicker branches overhead. He swung his legs out for leverage before pulling himself all the way onto the branch and into the tree. He climbed further up, staying above the path yet out of sight, being a firm believer in the 'if you can't see them, they can't see you' philosophy. About two thirds of the way up, he came to a thick, forked branch that he relievedly laid down on. If he slightly turned his head, he could see the ground below, and he was otherwise safely out of sight. With this in mind, he settled in on his branch, ready for a long wait.

**A/N: And so it begins… Next chapter should feature Rev, Duck, Ace, and Lexi, possibly Slam. It should be a bit longer than this one, and I'm hoping to get another early one… I miss my chapter-a-week schedule! DX This feels like it has been moving so slowly… You readers aren't the only ones in suspense!**

**R&R!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I'm sorry for the lateness, but that research paper was due 3 days after my last chapter post (and I assure you, I paid dearly for my procrastination,) and then what's worse, Quarter Finals just-so-happened to be the next (now last) week. My mind was just 'Research paper, research paper, research paper!' I literally didn't know about it until late Saturday night, and it just totally threw me off. On top of all that, this chapter fought me tooth and nail to get on the page. DX I've had a rough couple weeks. The good news is I have two three day weekends in a row (which was the only way I got this up relatively on time,) and as far as I can tell, I'm not going to have a ridiculous amount of schoolwork for a little while at least, so I'm hoping for rapid updates! **

**On a more relative note, I lied the last chapter- this one only has Rev, Duck, and Ace in it. Enjoy!**

_Day 1 cont._

Duck didn't know where he was going, nor did he care, so long as he put plenty of distance between himself and what was directly behind him as fast as possible. It was cold, dark, wet from the steady misting rain, and he was in no mood to be chased through the forest by a loopy hunter and his mutts. But that was, of course, just what he had to put up with.

He didn't know which hunter it was, but he did know that he was fast. No matter how many times he quacked ahead, they caught up with him in minutes. He didn't want to waste his energy on one long quack forward in case they caught up to him again because there was no way he could outrun a bunch of dogs, so he was stuck going on foot with periodic short quacks. Thankfully the hunter was far enough behind that he wasn't dodging bullets anymore. He was starting to get sick of it. And even worse, he was getting tired.

He quacked again, ending up a couple dozen yards to the right of his original location and continuing his desperate sprint. A relieved smile spread on his face as he heard the dogs stop barking, a sign that they had lost his trail, only for it to disappear seconds later as the braying and howling restarted with vigor. He knew he wasn't going to be able to keep it up much longer, and being as proud and arrogant as he was, Duck simply refused to be the first to lose the 'game'. At least, he hoped he would have been first, and if it came to it, he hoped he was the last.

He was out of options, so he was going to have to get creative. Sprinting as hard as he could, he put as much distance between himself and the dogs as possible before slowing down practically to a stop. He charged his energy for a moment, listening to the dogs getting progressively closer, before unleashing one, large quack.

His distance limit was all of about two hundred yards, and he used every inch of it to go as far back the way he had come as he could. He figured that would be the one place they wouldn't look, and if they did, they would have been contending with his previous scent trails. Just to be safe, and since he still had the energy, he didn't move an inch, instead quacking around a hundred yards in the general leftward direction. The dogs would never have been able to find him after that- not in any good time, anyway.

He would have loved nothing more than to find a place to rest and bask in his awesomeness after avoiding the dogs, but fate was playing games with the mallard. He had been randomly quacking around for almost half an hour- it was only a matter of time until he ended up in a poorly chosen location. Apparently, the last time was the charm, as Duck realized when he looked around the place he ended up and noticed the distinct lack of ground beneath him. And then gravity took hold of the poor mallard again and he fell the short distance to the ground below.

**xoxoxoxox**

Rev was running at top speed through the forest, getting the general lay of the land as fast as he could while avoiding any hunters, keeping his distance through sheer speeds. At the rate he was moving, if he passed any hunters, by the time they realized he was there and had drawn their weapons, he would already have been long gone. It also helped him keep his mind off of the gunshots he had been hearing. Plus, the more ground he covered, the more likely he was to locate his teammates, among other, less pleasant things.

Speaking of which, as Rev passed a tight cluster of trees, he saw the glint of something on the ground and stopped short, zipping back so he was standing a few feet away from it. Sure enough, it was another one- a trap. This one looked to be a modified bear trap that was easier to set off than the standard variety and had some type of sensor attached to it. Rev would have missed it if it weren't for his keen eyesight- a necessity for being able to move as fast as he did.

That was another reason he was taking his long run- finding traps. He could see them easily so long as he was paying attention, but his teammates may not have been as lucky. So, his goal was to find as many traps as possible and purposely set them off so someone else couldn't do so accidentally.

He walked into the throng of trees, careful to keep a decent distance between himself and the trap as he reached up into the tree and broke off a long, thick branch. He ripped off all of the leaves and carefully approached the trap, still keeping outside of a two foot radius. Carefully placing the thicker, broken end of the stick on the pressure trigger in the center of the trap, he positioned himself so he could quickly dart away after setting it off. Once he was satisfied that he could escape, he slowly and evenly started applying pressure with the stick. Even though he was expecting it, Rev still jumped as the trap snapped shut, easily snapping the stick in two as the red light on the sensor started blinking.

Without another moment's hesitation, he released the stick, zipping back off through the trees and away from the trap. A couple minutes later, he came to a clearing at the bottom of a miniscule cliff and tried coming to a stop, only to slip on the damp grass and slide to a very wet stop. Rev looked up at the cloudy night sky in confusion; he had spent so long under the cover of the trees, he hadn't even been aware of the rain. It wasn't something he was used to doing, avoiding the sky, and yet he had to discourage himself from flying somehow- he would have been an obvious target if he didn't.

He picked himself up off the ground, flicking his wrists and sending droplets of water flying in every direction as he walked back under the trees. He was just about to dash off again when he heard a familiar 'pop'-like sound that made him pause, not daring to hope it was what he thought it was. However, instinct took over not long after seeing as the sound was shortly followed by a loud crash from something landing directly behind him. It startled the roadrunner so much that he yelped and jumped up to hide in the nearest tree. Rev was just about to fly off through the cover of the leaves, staying under the treetops and avoiding branches, when he heard something that made him comically freeze in mid-air.

"Stupid hunters... Stupid forest... Stupid gravity…" a very familiar voice grumbled from behind him. Rev immediately turned around and, much to his joy, saw Duck in a heap on the ground. The intelligent roadrunner was immediately able to figure out what had happened; it wasn't the first time that type of event had befallen the mallard.

Doing a quick about-face, Rev shot towards the downed mallard with a gleeful cry of "DUCK-YOU'RE-ALRIGHT!"

In response to this, Duck jumped up off the ground like it was a trampoline, shrieking like a little girl as Rev wrapped him in a hug tight enough to rival one of Slam's. He hadn't seen the roadrunner, being too busy with his intimate introduction with the ground, and that coupled with his already frazzled mental state led to a terrible reaction to his sudden appearance.

Rev, on the other hand, was seemingly oblivious to this, only happy to see one of his friends alive and well. He immediately began spewing a seemingly unending stream of words, never releasing Duck in the interim and thereby giving the mallard a chance to recover from his heart-stopping panic attack. "Oh-Duck-thank-goodness-you're-alright-I-was-so-worried-that-something-bad-had-happened-to-all-of-you-after-the-fight-last-night-and-then-I-couldn't-find-any-of-you-and-I-kept-on-hearing-gunshots-and-yet-since-it's-been-raining-I-guess-it-could've-been-thunder-but-I'm-still-so-happy-to-see-you-and-I'm-sorry-I-scared-you-but-I-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a second!" Duck demanded, snapping to and forcibly extracting himself from the roadrunner's crushing hold. "I wasn't scared! You, uh, surprised me, is all."

"Then-why-did-you-scream?" Rev asked innocently with a curious tilt of his head.

"Because, uh, I was so happy to see you, too!" Duck fibbed quickly, giving the roadrunner a one-armed hug as if to prove his point. This led to another bone-crushing embrace from the ecstatic roadrunner. "Rev, that cracking sound you hear is coming from my ribcage!"

"Sorry," Rev squeaked, quickly letting go of the mallard as he gasped for breath.

"So...where did you come from?"

"I-was-setting-off-some-traps-that-I-found-so-no-one-else-would-and-they-have-these-sensors-attatched-to-them-that-probably-notify-someone-when-they-go-off-so-I-had-to-run-away-really-quickly-and-then-I-stopped-here-and-slid-on-the-wet-patch-and-then-you-showed-up-and-I-hid-then-I-realized-it-was-you-and-here-we-are," Rev explained quickly, thoroughly throwing Duck for a loop. "What-were-you-up-to?"

"Oh, you know, the usual- fighting bad guys, saving the day and all that jazz," Duck replied with an air of high-and-mighty-ness, adopting his typical 'I'm-very-important' pose. "I only saw a couple of those scoundrels calling themselves hunters, but they all knew better than to mess with _Danger Duck_!"

"Oo-kay," Rev said with a skeptical look on his face, not believing a word of it but too happy at Duck's presence to comment on it. "Did-you-see-any-of-our-friends-though?"

"Ah, not really, no," Duck replied, deflating a bit as he sat down on the ground. "Have you seen them?"

"No-I-haven't-and-I'm-really-worried-because-I-keep-on-hearing-gunshots-and-I-can't-help-but-fear-the-worst-and-what's-worse-is-that-my-GPS-still-isn't-working-and-it's-really-throwing-me-off!" the roadrunner explained with an increasing air of panic, joining the mallard on the ground.

"Hey, keep calm, Rev," Duck advised gently. "The last thing we want to do is freak out- we'll be an easy catch if we do. Besides, us finding each other proves that this isn't going to be impossible; we just have five more of us to find. What we need to do is come up with a plan or something."

"Duck-that-may-just-be-the-smartest-thing-I've-ever-heard-you-say."

"Thank you. ...Hey, you wait just a-!"

"You're-right-though-what-we-need-is-an-idea!" Rev exclaimed, jumping back to his feet as he began pacing back and forth at about two reps per second. "What-we-really-need-to-do-is-find-the-others."

"Yeah..." Duck agreed, adopting a thoughtful pose on the ground and, for once, ignoring the earlier insult. "What if you flew around for a bit? That would surely draw our teammates' attention."

"And-the-attention-of-the-hunters," Rev pointed out. "What-if-you-quacked-around-on-a-grid-like-pattern-while-calling-their-names-they'd-surely-hear-you-eventually."

"I think the island's too big for that, and I'd lose you in the process," Duck stated dismissively. "What if we're thinking about this the wrong way? Maybe it would be easier to help ourselves and our friends by finding help. Think you could fly back to Acmetropolis?"

"I-wouldn't-know-which-direction-to-fly-in-from-here-and-I-probably-wouldn't-make-it-all-the-way-anyhow."

"But what about after you got away from the island? Your GPS would start working by then and you could fly back to where we were searching for the _Free Spirit_- the Coast Guard's bound to be looking for us!"

"But-that-would-take-too-long-you-know-how-slow-those-guys-are-and-they're-usually-unarmed-anyways!" Rev stopped and pinned Duck with a serious look. "I'm-not-going-to-leave-this-island-unless-I'm-sure-I-can-come-back-with-help-in-time-and-frankly-right-now-I-don't-think-I-can."

"Alright, alright," Duck acquiesced with a wave, as though brushing the idea out of the air. "Got any other ideas?"

"We-could-steal-the-hunter's-boat-but-it's-probably-alarmed," Rev said dejectedly.

"And on top of that, we wouldn't get anywhere with this weather," Duck stated, eyeing the swaying treetops above.

As silence came over the two Loonatics who never knew when to shut up, they knew it pointless. They were stuck, and there wasn't a thing they could have done about it.

"...So, you said something about messing with traps?"

**xoxoxoxox  
><strong>  
>Ace was moving through the jungle at what, for him, would have been considered a leisurely jog. He had spent the entire day on the move, never stopping in one place even to rest for very long. He had jogged around the perimeter of the island once earlier before moving inland, and he had had mixed reactions to the overall size of it. It was big enough that avoiding the hunters was going to be fairly easy so long as they kept moving, but it also meant that finding his teammates was going to be that much harder. This realization on top of his growing exhaustion led to one disheartened, increasingly angered bunny.<p>

So far he had seen no sign of any of his teammates, which was also good and bad in its own way. It left him nothing to track them with, but nothing for the hunters to track them with, either. It's not like he thought his friends were going to be easy targets by any means; he just knew he would never forgive himself if something happened to any of them because of his stupid mistake, and was therefore very eager to see them all in one piece.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice the Major slinking around straight ahead of him. Thanks to his keen vision, though, he was able to see him from a good distance away and come to a quiet stop before he got too close. If there was any one of the hunters he would have loved nothing more than to burn to a cinder with his laser vision, it would have been him. And yet, the multiple threats against his teammates echoed in his memory and kept him from indulging himself- not until he knew his friends were safe, at the very least.

With that in mind, he carefully backed away, keeping the oblivious Texan in his line of sight. He almost made it far enough away that the hunter never would have noticed him, but right before he made a break for it, he backed up and stepped onto what must have been the loudest stick in the universe, because it seemed to echo around for miles in the previously silent forest. Ace was sure that, had there been birds on the island, they would have shot into the air in a flurry of wings and feathers. However, he had enough to deal with, 'enough' being the now more aware Major snapping his head around to look of in his direction. Ace bolted.

Evidently, the Major was still able to see the fleeing bunny, because the shots he fired at him were frighteningly accurate. Ace focused more on zigzagging and weaving in and out of trees than covering ground at that point, and it was a good thing he did. The first shot zinged past his head, the second and third thoroughly destroyed the nearby trees, and the fourth only barely missed his ears. After the fifth shot went wide, he changed tactics, bolting away as fast as he could in the opposite direction. According to his count, and his desperate hope that the Texan was using a standard deer rifle, he should've had to stop to reload at that point.

This proved to be true as Ace made the great escape, the shots not restarting at his dashing form. He purposely took a tricky path, involving many u-turns around thick trees, flips over dips in the ground, and rolling under fallen obstacles in his rush to get away from the Major. After a mile or two of distance, he stopped, figuring now was the time to lose the psychotic hunter for good. He jumped up where he was standing, grabbing onto the overhanging branch of an overhead tree and pulling himself up. He quickly made his way up the tree, stopping at around the halfway mark and hunkering down next to the trunk before looking back down.

Sure enough, almost ten minutes later, the Major hobbled his way past. He evidently hadn't been lying about his debilitating war wound, if the apparent limp was anything to go by, and he was still struggling to reload his rifle and cursing his bad knee. He went right past Ace's hiding place, never even pausing to look around in his desperate bid to catch the rabbit.

Ace stayed alert from his perch for a few more minutes after that, just to be sure no one else would be joining him on that rainy night. Once he was finally satisfied, he figured he'd stay put for a bit. Killing himself due to exhaustion or getting killed because of it weren't very appealing options to the rabbit, so he figured he'd rest in the relative safety of the tree. At least there he could keep an eye out for anyone else around, be they friend or foe.

**A/N: I know the reunion part wasn't very touchy feely, but remember; one of them **_**is**_** Duck. Others will be more heartfelt, I assure you, but Duck doesn't strike me as the type to get teary-eyed over a reunion unless the person came back from the dead or something of the like.**

**In other news, I hope to have the next chapter up next weekend. No promises, but it is another 3 day weekend, so if I don't have it up then, expect it early next week barring unforeseen circumstances. Next chapter features Lexi, Slam, Tech, and Ace. (Is it just me, or is this turning out to be **_**very**_** Ace-centric? O.o)**

**R&R!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Forget fighting tooth and nail, this one used baseball bats and chainsaws fighting me! That's why this one was so late- it took me forever to catch it and forcibly glue, tape, and staple it into place. I even contemplated using a hammer and nails at one point. This was absolute **_**murder **_**to do! On top of that, this was **_**way **_**longer than I thought it would be! …Though in hindsight, this is probably a good thing and hopefully will make up for the lateness. *bricked***

**Anywho, this chapter features exactly whom I thought it would, and is another fairly Ace-y one. I'm not mad that this is Ace-centric or anything, just surprised- he's really not one of my favorite characters. I don't dislike him, but he seemed just **_**too**_** good in the TV show. I'm liking pointing out flaws. XD Makes him seem human…anthro? Whatever.**

**I apologize in advance for the crappiness of this chapter, but as I said, it killed me to do.**

_Day 2_

The first thing Tech was aware of was his sore back from reclining in the same position for so long. He sat up with a quiet groan, putting his hands on his lower back and stretching out as best he could without moving from his spot, keeping in mind that he was sitting on only a branch.

The second thing the coyote was aware of made him snap his eyes open in shock at his surroundings. The last time he had checked, it had been getting increasingly darker, and the rain had restarted again. Now, the branch he was sitting on was almost completely dry, though his clothes and fur were still damp, and there was a plain, dreary light filtering through the leaves from the clouds high above.

Tech tiredly rubbed his eyes with one hand and allowed a low growl to escape from his throat. It was morning; he had slept all night, which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but he was still mad at himself. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. Who knew what he may have missed? Or worse yet, _who_ he may have missed.

With an annoyed huff, he straightened up, deciding that he should cut his losses and see if there was evidence of anything new having happened back at ground level. He braced both of his hands on either side of his branch, repositioning himself so he could lean over one side and look down.

Of all the things he may have expected (or feared) to see, coming face-to-face with someone else directly below him wasn't one of them. At least the other person seemed to be as surprised as he was, if their echoing screams were anything to go by. They both propelled themselves backward from the other, intent on only getting away rather than giving even a moment's hesitation to identify the 'threat'.

Tech pulled himself back a little too quickly, as he learned seconds later when he lost his balance and found himself falling backward over the other side of his branch, beginning a rapid descent to the ground below. He broke through a few branches as he fell, flipping over others as he tried to reposition himself to avoid landing on his head. Realizing he was getting nowhere fast, he stuck his arms out in an attempt to break his fall. He was no Ace or Lexi- he'd never have been able to catch himself and flip onto his feet or something of the like- but he figured he'd save himself the significant head trauma and fix his more than likely to be broken arms on the run with his regeneration.

However, he was saved from that experience when his foot caught in a strong, forked branch, putting a rapid stop to his descent several feet from the ground. The branch gave a bit, and it took him a second to realize that he had stopped falling as he bounced in place. Once this realization struck him, he immediately struggled to get out so he could get away, kicking at the branch and twisting around to dislodge himself. It proved futile; despite his best efforts, he remained suspended upside-down, caught with whomever it was that had found him.

**xoxoxoxox**

Ace always knew that when he woke up screaming, it was going to be a bad day. He had been woken up by a small sound from above, and when he turned his bleary eyes up to look, he had been met with the surprised face of someone else. He woke up immediately, his instincts kicking in as he turned and jumped down from his branch, practically without thinking. All that was going through his head was _flee, flee, flee!_

He made a clean drop, not hitting any branches and rolling with the impact. Quickly coming to his feet again, he managed to take two running steps in the general away-from-here direction before being surprised again as something dropped down in front of him. Ace tried coming to a quick stop and changing direction at the same time, which only resulted in him losing his footing and skidding to a stop on his rear. He was just about to attempt to scramble to his feet again when he caught sight of just what he was so scared of- or, rather, _whom_.

"_Tech_?" Ace asked in part disbelief and part relief at the sight of the coyote, looking up at his trapped friend in confusion.

"_Ace_?" Tech echoed breathlessly, comically twisting around, arching his back, and taking part in other random struggles in an effort to get a better look at the bunny. He had to settle for a position where he could just barely see him out of the corner of his eye from his awkward dangling position.

They simply looked at each other for a moment, giving themselves the time it took to recognize the presence of a friend and not an enemy as they had been so quick to think. Once this finally dawned on them, they both quickly degenerated into giggles shortly followed by all-out laughs, both feeling equally stupid at scaring each other so badly. Ace himself was in near hysterics, deliriously happy at finding one of his teammates alive and well, while Tech was still recovering from his gravity-induced panic attack, and was more subdued.

"Wh-where did you come from?" Ace asked as his conniption fit subsided. "I wasn't aware I was sharin' a tree."

"Neither was I," Tech replied. "I was keeping lookout up there since midday yesterday, but then I, uh, fell asleep. When did you show up?"

"Late last night, early this mornin'. Had a run in with a hunter. Guess I fell asleep, too..." Ace observed, looking about as happy with that realization as Tech had been.

"You alright?" Tech asked, looking Ace over as best he could from his bizarre position as the rabbit regained his footing.

"Yeah, I'm fine- I got da one with da limp," Ace replied with a smirk, walking practically underneath Tech to see his position. His grin widened as he took in the coyote's predicament. "You're stuck up dere, aren't you?"

"No, I'm just staying here for fun," Tech deadpanned, rolling his eyes at the bunny below. "I just _love_ showing off my bat impression."

"Alright, alright," Ace interjected, barely containing himself from laughing again while inspecting the coyote's situation as best as he could from his point on the ground. "All I can think ta do is just pull ya down, so try swingin' ya legs out. Da landin'll probably be more pleasant dat way."

"Got it," Tech replied as Ace grabbed his hands.

"Okay, on da count of three. One... Two... Three!" Ace exclaimed, pulling down on Tech's arms as hard as he could while Tech swung his free leg outward. The branch snapped under their combined force, which wasn't what either was expecting, so instead of Tech making a clean landing behind Ace, they both overbalanced and fell flat on their backs. This led to another round of hysterics from what most considered to be two of the most serious members of the Loonatics. It was pretty safe to say that neither were completely in their right minds at the time, but were too happy with the other's sudden appearance to care.

"Sorry... You okay?" Tech asked, sitting up as he regained his composure.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ace replied, getting back to his feet and helping Tech up. "You still alright?"

"I've survived multiple rapid-succession falls off a cliff- I'd take falling out of a tree any day," Tech replied with a smirk, dusting himself off as he was finally able to get a good look at the bunny. "You look like crap."

Ace looked down in confusion, only mildly surprised to see that Tech was right. While Tech only looked a little worse for wear, Ace was a _mess_. His rainy, late night jog had led to his legs being covered in mud, and leaves stuck to his clothes in odd places. His fur was matted and not as yellow as it usually was, and though Tech wouldn't have been able to tell just by looking at him, he was sore to the point that he wouldn't have minded staying in bed all day had they been in any other situation.

"Eh, I had a rough day yesterday," Ace said nonchalantly by way of explanation with a dismissive wave. "I've just been…freakin' out 'bout dis whole thing."

"I don't blame you," Tech agreed, sitting down on a nearby rock and pulling what was left of the stick off of his foot. "This whole situation is weird. Something struck me as off the second we got here, and this is just confirming my suspicions. This is one of the few times that I wish I was wrong." He looked up from the stick to the rabbit, who was now leaning pensively against the tree with a look of troubled thought on his face. "Something on your mind?"

"Hm?" Ace started, slowly coming out of his thoughts. "Oh, ah… Lexi had told me dat she knew somethin' wasn't right, right before we were attacked, and I didn't believe her. Kinda blew her off, actually… And now we're here. She had said dat you and Sive shared her suspicions, but I was too dense ta notice for myself and too stubborn ta listen."

"Don't you go trying to pin this on yourself," Tech ordered forcefully, waving the broken end of the stick at Ace. "This is far from being your fault. The three of us should have said something sooner to get all of us on our guard instead of worrying over putting everyone on edge for possibly no reason. Besides, if you really want to play the blame game, then blame me; I'm the one who got us stuck here with my lousy navigation skills."

"If I'm not allowed ta blame myself, den neither are you," Ace stated matter-of-factly, giving the coyote a pointed look. "It isn't helpin' anyone, and we don't have time for it. We've got ta find our team first and foremost, and den we got ta deal with da hunters."

"You're right," Tech agreed, mentally shifting gears to help Ace come up with a strategy. "We need to somehow get ahead of the hunters, but unless we can deal with all six of them and their dogs practically simultaneously, we can't risk actually doing anything to them until we find the others. If we harm them, someone else may pay for it."

"Did you talk to da Major, too?" Ace asked humorlessly.

"No, the General. I drew that conclusion myself," Tech replied, just as serious. "Anyways, we could always trap the hunters or something, but this early on, one of the others would be bound to notice and find them."

"So, we should probably skip thinkin' 'bout da crazies for now and stick ta helpin' our teammates, right?" Ace confirmed.

"Right. So, we'll need some kind of tactic for systematically searching the island. Anything else would just draw attention to ourselves, and we're no good to anyone dead or otherwise incapacitated."

"I went once around da island yesterday. Dis place is huge- a lot bigger dan we originally thought. Good for hidin', bad for findin'- da only livin' thing I saw yesterday was da Major. I don't think it's possible ta search it like what you're thinkin'."

"I haven't seen anyone either…" Tech stated grimly before continuing. "How big would you say the island is?"

"Uh...big?"

"That's not very helpful, Ace."

"Well sorry, but I wasn't payin' attention ta how big it was," Ace retorted. "If I had ta hazard a guess, I'd say it was more dan a marathon all da way around."

"That means we have around 300 square miles of searching to do," Tech stated tiredly, not wasting a moment's time on calculations. "You're right, we can't search that. We need to find some way to locate the others at least relatively close."

"What about usin' our comm.s?" Ace asked. "I know day aren't workin', but maybe ya can track 'em anyway using some of your techno-smarts?"

"No, I can't unless they're getting the satellite signal and that's what's being jammed- we can't send anything out, but nothing has come in, either, so it's being blocked from both ends," Tech explained. "...As much as the idea disturbs me, we could follow the sound of gunshots."

"By den it could be too late ta help anyone, though," Ace pointed out, dismissing the idea almost immediately. "We need ta find a way ta find 'em earlier on without tippin' off da hunters."

Silence came over them after that. Neither had any ideas that fit the criteria- not feasible ones, anyway- and they were both disheartened with the lack of results. They were two of the best strategists they had, and they were coming up blank.

"…Damn!" Ace exclaimed after a few minutes of silence, frustratedly swinging a fist into the tree.

"Ace!" Tech said beseechingly.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just…" Ace began, rubbing his injured hand, "more dan a day has already passed, and anything could have already happened without us knowin', and if someone got hurt or worse, I'd…I'd…"

Tech stood up from his spot, throwing the stick aside as he approached his leader, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Our odds are better than you may think. This may be way different from anything we've ever dealt with, and we may be separated, but we still have a pretty good chance."

"Comin' from you, dat's comfortin'," Ace stated, finding his friend's usual brutal realism as a comfort for a change. "Well, what do we do now?"

"Now that I know how big the island is, I know I was wrong in staying put; it's too big for that. We'd never find anyone- we have to move."

"I think ya had da right idea in stickin' to da trees," Ace continued, getting over his misery and panic and taking charge again, much to Tech's relief. "It seems like a smart way ta get around. Da leaves would hide us, and so long as we're quiet, we'd never be noticed."

"Are you thinking about making like squirrels and jumping from tree to tree?" Tech asked, hoping that wasn't the case.

"If ya don't think ya can do it-"

"No, I probably can," Tech sighed, "I'm just not built for it. I'll only slow you down."

"With how sore I am, I think we'll be about even," Ace replied with a smirk. "C'mon- we're wastin' daylight!"

**xoxoxoxox**

Lexi looked down from her vantage point, surveying the area below by sight for what must have been the seventh time in five minutes before sighing and pulling back again. She had made it to the spot she had seen from the cliff not long after the sun had set yesterday evening, and had spent the night there. What she had seen was the top of a small, gentle incline about 40 feet above the ground. One quick climb later, and she found herself in practically a completely different place.

While the area below was all dense forests, the area at the top was covered in tall, brown grass, like something out of Africa. A few dozen yards away were more trees that cast heavy shadows beyond, making it impossible to see any farther. These trees were pines, a far cry from the maples, oaks and such below. There were also large rocks all around, and a sparse area right before the gravelly drop.

Lexi had taken cover under a natural overhang created by one of the rocks, thankful for it as the rain restarted, and had slept until morning. Once it was bright enough outside, she had emerged from her hiding place to see what she could see from her vantage point.

Trees. Lots and lots of trees. She could see most of the island from there, but most of it was covered in trees. There were a few clearings here and there, including a large canyon and one very large area that Lexi had no idea what to make of. She could make out a few key points, such as the beach they had come in on, another smaller beach that would have been impossible to see from the ground, the fancy bridge they had crossed on their way in, and the house. There was a fairly large clearing directly below, and she could make out a bend in the wide, fast-flowing river through the foliage. Other than that, it was just a bunch of trees.

She had been overjoyed by seeing the sheer size of the island. It left a lot of ground for the hunters to cover, and a lot of area for her friends to hide in. Granted, it would mean finding them was going to be that much harder, but if it was safer for it, she wasn't going to complain. That's not to say she was completely at ease- far from it, in fact. She had heard more than enough gunshots to terrify her coming from at least two different places at relatively the same time. She was insanely worried for the others, and all the more determined to find them. Based on the size and coverage of the island, she wasn't too optimistic on being able to do so in any good time, though. What's more, so far that day, it had been eerily silent. No gunshots, signs of life anywhere- even the wind and waves had died down a bit. She hoped that the hunters were just taking a break. Unless, of course, they had already caught some of the others and were-

_No_. She stopped that train of thought and backpedaled like someone rewinding a video. She didn't want to think these things, but when they did inevitably crop up, she forcibly beat them down. She wouldn't let herself think like that- she _couldn't_. She'd stay in that spot for as long as she remained undetected, she wouldn't give up until she found her friends, and for the sake of her own sanity, she wouldn't give up hope.

Unfortunately, she was so wrapped up in her thoughts, she paid little to no attention to her ears. This meant that she didn't know about the person rapidly approaching from behind her until the ground started shaking slightly from the heavy footfalls. Once this realization struck her, panic set in, and she immediately jumped to her feet, but couldn't even make one step before being grabbed.

It was a good thing he wasn't a threat.

"LEXI!" Slam shouted at the top of his lungs, drowning out Lexi's frightened shriek as he happily latched onto the startled bunny as tightly as he could and gave her the biggest, squishiest hug in his arsenal, lifting her off the ground and swinging her to and fro in the process.

"Slam? _Slam_!" Lexi responded with equal glee, panic subsiding almost instantaneously as she returned the hug with as much vigor as she could from her half-squashed position. 

Slam did feel guilty about frightening his friend, but the feeling was drowned under his happiness. One of his friends was okay, that was all he cared about. He hadn't seen any of them since the night they were attacked when Duck quacked away. He was by no means mad at the mallard, he saw that he would have gotten killed otherwise, but he was still worried about all of the others. Most of the hunters were very large, strong men- he was the only one with any remarkable strength on the team. One good hit would have caused a lot of threatening damage to anyone but him, save Tech.

And then they started hunting them, and everything flipped upside down. Slam's first thought was to stay within sight of the house, someplace where he could safely watch for anyone else who came out. He had come to the natural rise in the geography of the island immediately upon spotting it from the house, wasting to time in getting there. Unfortunately, he seemed to have been the last one out, because a few hours later he saw the hunters and some dogs emerge to begin the hunt. He had feared that he wouldn't find anyone, but upon looking around on the rise, he had found Lexi, of all people, spying from relatively nearby. He had been so ecstatic upon finding her that he had charged and subsequently glomped her.

Lexi had definitely been surprised at his sudden arrival, but was far from complaining. One of her friends was alive, well, and had found her. Her rising loss of sanity took a huge hit, and she found herself filled with a new surge of hope- _real_ hope, not hope out of necessity- from the Tasmanian devil's presence. She was a whirlwind of emotions at that point- happiness, relief, surprise, joy, all wrapped up in one. She didn't realize she was crying until Slam worriedly pointed it out, quickly putting the much smaller bunny down for fear that he had hurt and/or scared her so bad.

"No, no, Slam, it's okay," Lexi said, quick to reassure him as she wiped her eyes. "I'm just, so _happy_ to see you!" She gave him another fierce hug, which was gladly returned as her tears subsided. "I was just…quickly going insane."

"Okay now," Slam stated firmly, keeping it short to keep himself from blathering on in his own language to try to keep his little friend calm.

"Yeah, everything's alright," Lexi confirmed, letting her relief into her voice. "But, when did you get here, how did you find me?" Slam shrugged in response as he put Lexi back down, knowing it had essentially just been luck that had let him find the rabbit. "Have you seen any of the others by any chance? Any sign of them?" A sullen shake of the head. "Well, that's okay. We'll find them; we have to. We can't give up now. We'll just stay up here until we find them."

Lexi hoped that it would be that simple.

**A/N: Whew! Now that that monster's over, I have updating news! The next chapter will be fairly short and feature only Sive, but it will be up Thursday at the latest. Why? Because I'm going to Colorado for Spring Break and I want to get **_**something**_** up for you guys before I leave. I figured it would be better than leaving you all hanging for a week, anyhow.**

**I am an addict and reviews are my drug!**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Finally, one that **_**didn't**_** fight me to get onto the page! XD It's longer than I thought it would be, but still fairly short. **

**I'm in a bit of a rush right now, so I'm going to keep this short. I'm leaving tomorrow and won't be back until next Saturday, so you can expect a chapter within a couple of days of my return. The next chapter should feature Rev, Duck, Slam, and Lexi.**

_Day 2 cont._

_Now why does it feel as though I've done this before?_ Sive thought dryly as she ran as fast as her legs could carry through the forest. Of course, she didn't have the luxury of a busy inner-city district to hide in this time around, and the dogs chasing her were significantly smarter than Dumb and Dumber had ever been. Plus she never remembered being shot at at any point...

While this experience was different, it was by no means impossible to avoid capture. She was as clever as a fox and light on her feet, and had her powers as an added advantage. Her only issue was unfamiliarity with the terrain- back in the Navy District, she had known just where to go, right where all of the dead ends and busy areas were to lose her pursuers. Now, she had no idea what she was doing. Earlier she had unwittingly wandered into a considerably less dense area of forest and as a result was quickly spotted by whom she believed was the Colonel, if the German orders to the dogs was anything to go by. She had seen him right after he had seen her, and her instincts immediately took over, screaming at her to run away as fast as possible. They had never steered her wrong before, so she took off in the opposite direction, wisely phasing as she did. Before she even managed to turn around, the lout report of a rifle echoed out into the woods, and she could feel the sensation of the buckshot traveling harmlessly through her chest as she bolted away, dogs hot on her heels.

Sive easily outran the older man, weaving between the trees and alternately phasing in open areas to avoid being killed while still in firing range. It only took her a couple of minutes to leave the Colonel far enough behind that, while she could still hear him if she really tried and vise-versa, it was too dark out to see the other, the sun having set hours earlier. While the old man had proven to be no issue, though, the dogs were another story. They were fast enough to be able to keep her in sight, though they couldn't keep close enough to catch her on her random path, and even if she got too far ahead they'd be able to follow their noses. She jumped over uneven patches, swung from trees, and phased through whatever large objects they passed, but it did nothing to throw off the carnivorous canines. Sive was running out of ideas.

That is, until she stumbled down a steep hill and came to a shallow creek. Without even fully realizing what she was doing, she crossed the creek then ran upstream a bit, hearing the dogs temporarily lose the scent behind her as they came to the flowing water. The howling picked up again a few moments later, and she crossed the creek again, continuing upstream. Again she heard them stop once they lost the scent, and she crossed the creek once more, this time running through it for a while before coming out of the other side and running away. She knew the dogs would pick up on her again sooner or later, but she hoped to be far away when that happened.

The trees became even more sparse, and the ground went from packed dirt to dust that rose up with each footfall as Sive continued in the direction she had darted off in. She briefly wondered where the desert had come from before receiving her answer in the form of almost falling off of the sudden drop off in front of her, well hidden in the darkness and most likely difficult to see in the monotone dust anyhow.

She planted her feet in the dust with a startled sound, skidding to a stop right in front of the drop- and what a drop it was. It appeared to be a canyon about fifty feet wide and seventy five feet down with a dried up riverbed at the bottom, if the utter silence was anything to go by. Silence from below, anyway- the barking and howling had picked up again, and was getting a little too close for comfort.

There was nowhere else for her to go. The left and right had absolutely nothing by way of cover, she couldn't go back unless she wanted to risk running right to the dogs and/or Colonel, and going forward _definitely _wasn't an option. Staying put didn't have a happy ending to it, either.

_I'm going to have to get creative, aren't I? _Sive mentally asked herself, not pleased at all. She looked around, hoping to find some sort of inspiration quickly and swore as the dogs got closer.

**xoxoxoxox**

The Colonel broke through the last of the trees and finally came upon the dogs. He had been following their barks and howls as they chased after his quarry, struggling to reload his gun as he did so. He became discouraged when they lost the scent multiple times at the creek, but then became hopeful again as they took off towards the canyon to the East. It had been an incredible hunt, but it had looked as though it was about to draw to a close.

This was why he was simply dumbfounded when he saw the dogs whining and whimpering at the edge of the cliff, desperately searching for the scent near where it had disappeared. The old German quickly scanned the skies in case it was the roadrunner he had been chasing, but wasn't surprised when he didn't see anything. He knew he should have hit his prey at least once, and since it didn't have any effect, that meant it was one of the coyotes he had been chasing. The shot had either passed through its target if it was the younger one, or it was the older one and his regeneration worked faster than he had thought. Either way he was impressed- the dog moved incredibly fast, and was very clever.

"Kein beute!"* he shouted at the distressed dogs, using the command to tell them that there was nothing to look for. "Holen Sie sich zurück!"**

The dogs quieted and retreated at his commands, and he strode up to the edge of the canyon, looking down into the abyss. All he saw was black; it was too dark to see the bottom, not that he could have with his old eyes, anyways. His ears were just fine, though, so he didn't look, he listened. It wouldn't have been the first time their quarry had done something like this, but he certainly wouldn't have expected it from one of the Loonatics. Unless it _was_ the regenerating one…

"Ain't I the one who usually does this?" a smug voice asked from right behind the Colonel, making him jump. He had been so focused on his search that he had missed the wary growls of his dogs as the Major approached.

"Stille!"*** he ordered the dogs, pleased when they obeyed without hesitation. "Indeed you are, but I'm starting to suspect zat I vas chasing ze regenerating one."

"Really? First we've heard of him if it was," the Major commented idly, also peering over the edge before pulling back. "You sure it wasn't just one of the birds?"

"I hit vatever it vas zat I vas chasing," the Colonel stated blandly.

"Sure ya did." The Major completely ignored the withering look the Colonel sent him, instead opting to inspect his rifle. "You catch anythin' yet?"

"Not yet, no," the Colonel responded, shooting the canyon a pondering look, wondering if it were possible for him to climb down and continue the hunt without hurting himself. It didn't look promising. "I had seen ze roadrunner late last night, but he vas moving too fast for me to even raise my rifle."

"I don't think _any_ of us haven't seen him, and none of us have been able to get a shot off at him, either," the blonde man replied with a smirk. "I vote we leave him to Jennin's- let him get caught up in a trap, then we'll catch him."

"How unsportsmanlike of you," the Colonel responded, only sounding mildly interested in what they were talking about. "Besides, didn't you hear Jennings harping yesterday about how vone of zem is messing vith his traps? He von't catch anything at zis rate."

"Poor guy relies on those things too much," the Major stated distastefully.

"Indeed," the Colonel agreed. "So, how are you doing so far? Seen anything yet? I heard you vere on a bunny hunt."

"Not tonight, no," the Major replied, sounding frustrated. "I found the yellow one yesterday, but he lost me because of this damn knee."

"Language, Tomson," the Colonel said beseechingly.

"Whatever you say, Mom." Again the German shot the Texan a look that went completely ignored. "Anywho, that's all I've seen in terms of bunny rabbits. Nobody's seen the pink one, yet."

"I don't think anyone has seen either of ze girls," the Colonel stated. "Odd. Zey're usually found first. Same for ze big vones- no vone has seen him, yet, either."

"Yeah, the General was talkin' 'bout that earlier. You know him- loves big game huntin', and hates when it's difficult."

"To be fair, he is getting a little old for zis."

"Look who's talkin'." This time the Colonel just smacked the Major upside the head, prompting a hearty laugh from the Texan as he straightened his hat. "He hasn't been completely outta luck, though- he's the only one to have seen the duck. Almost caught him, too."

"Good for him, zen." The Colonel started walking away, the dogs and the Major following as they made their way back towards the forest. "Zis is ze best hunt ve've had in a vhile."

"Tell me 'bout it!" the Major replied cheerily. "You were right, old man- we just had ta wait."

"Of course- I'm hardly ever wrong. Now it's just a matter of catching our quarry."

**xoxoxoxox**

Sive didn't move, didn't make a sound for almost ten minutes after the two hunters left, allowing the silence to wash over her as she absorbed their words. The others were okay. No one had been caught yet. She would've jumped for joy if she could, but her arms were getting sore and jumping in her position wasn't a good idea.

Upon hearing the dogs get closer and closer, she had quickly clambered down the side of the cliff, swinging to hide under an overhang about twenty feet down. Unless someone was really looking for her, no one would see her. She had planted her feet into two small outcroppings and held onto whatever she could, pressing herself against the wall as she listened intently to what was going on above. She had been a little worried when the Major showed up, but that quickly faded in the face of hearing their conversation.

She quickly and quietly climbed down the rock face, making it to the bottom with no issue several minutes later. It was indeed a dry riverbed just as she had suspected, so that left her two directions to go in. She randomly decided to go right, hoping it would take her somewhere more helpful. Now that she was sure her friends were all still alright, she knew she had to come up with some sort of strategy to help them. She had the feeling that the two had said something that should have helped her, she just needed to figure out _what_ it was.

Until then, she could only wander around, wishing that they had gotten stuck on a smaller island.

**A/N: Not remarkably long, but not that short, either. Sorry if the end seems rushed, but like I said, I'm in a bit of a hurry. Packing for skiing takes forever and a half, and on top of that, Word and my wifi aren't cooperating. Curse you Microsoft and Clear! …Anywho, see you all in a little over a week!**

**R&R!**

*No prey!

**Get back!

***Hush!


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'm back! Colorado was a lot of fun, and I got this chapter and the very beginning of the next one done! So, like I said, this one has Rev, Duck, Lexi, and Slam in it. Some of the smaller things that happen in this chapter will come back later, so be sure to pay attention. **

**In updating news, I have no idea how difficult my teachers are going to be this week. I hope to have the next chapter up next weekend, but no promises because it's going to be a longer one. Two weeks at the most. You know the drill. Enjoy!**

_Day 3_

They were both nervous. That was a given- three days with absolutely no sign of their teammates other than the echoing sounds of rifle fire would have put anyone on edge. Everyone had different ways of expressing their nervousness; some cleaned, some fidgeted, and some paced. It was only natural to have an outlet for ones anxiety. The unwritten Societal Laws said to be patient with them, to try to help calm them down.

However, after the twenty eighth hummed rendition of Jingle Bells, Duck hit the wall.

"Would you cut that out?" he shouted, breaking the tense silence between them and making Rev abruptly stop humming, jumping with an undignified yelp of alarm.

"Oh-I'm-sorry-Duck-I'm-just-nervous-and-usually-I-go-for-a-run-or-a-flight-when-I'm-nervous-but-that's-not-really-an-option-right-now-so-I-have-to-come-up-with-something-else-and-not-much-else-occurred-to-me-but-I-had-to-do-_something_-otherwise-I-was-going-to-go-crazy-"

"I get it, I get it already!" Duck interrupted frustratedly, one hand quickly darting out to grab the roadrunner by the beak and silencing his spout of words. He quickly regretted the action, immediately wishing he hadn't done so as he released Rev's beak. "Sorry, Rev, I don't know what came over me."

"Nah-it's-okay-Duck," Rev reassured with a dismissive wave of his hand. The kindly roadrunner couldn't hold a grudge to save his life. "I-probably-would've-been-annoyed-too-if-I-were-you-and-I-know-you-get-irritable-when-you're-worried."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I am _not_ worried," the mallard spluttered in his haughty, better-than-thou tone. "Worry is akin to fear, and fear is not something I am familiar with."

"Whatever-you-say-Duck," Rev said with a good-humored roll of his eyes. "But-in-a-situation-like-this-worry-and-fear-are-two-completely-different-things-because-fear-is-a-general-all-encompassing-feeling-that-can-completely-take-you-over-while-worry-is-like-that-but-it's-a-fear-for-others-not-yourself..."

Duck had started tuning out the roadrunner a while ago, ignoring the roadrunner's ranting in favor of idly looking around as they continued their hike. They had been going around the island since they found each other, looking for teammates and traps, and found more than enough of the latter. All sorts of traps had been set out, some meant to capture, but others designed to kill and/or severely disable in ways that made the two Loonatics' skin crawl. They disabled each with careful efficiency, quickly moving on to avoid getting caught, but doing so wasn't really getting them to their goal of safe team, captured bad guys, and great escape.

Duck was so caught up in his musings, he didn't notice what he was walking into, and he wouldn't have gotten the chance if Rev hadn't suddenly shouted "Duck-look-OUT!" and yanked him back with surprising force for the wiry bird.

The mallard landed on his backside with a startled "Oof!" Rubbing his now sore behind as he got back to his feet, Duck shot the roadrunner a glare. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"That!" Rev replied unhesitatingly, pointing towards something Duck couldn't see. After focusing for a moment, though, the mallard could just barely make out the dim, unblinking yellow light of an armed trap sensor before seeing the sensor proper well hidden in the roots of a tree. Another was hidden in the tree across from it- a laser trip system, no doubt.

"Oh, uh, thanks," Duck said, sounding unsure as he gave the trap a look that said 'where-did-you-come-from?'

"Sure-thing-Duck-I-almost-missed-it-myself-but-then-I-saw-a-reflection-of-light-off-of-some-raindrops-from-earlier's-downpour-and-that-wouldn't-have-made-sense-since-trees-absorb-water-but-metal-doesn't-so..."

Again Duck tuned out the roadrunner, this time to closer inspect the trap. He gave the laser a wide berth, keeping his lower half back while bending forward at the waist to peer beyond it without tripping it. At first he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but the area was so dense that what limited light was able to stream through the heavy cloud cover was mostly obscured by the leafy trees. On top of that, he had already missed something that may have been potentially life-threatening, so he made sure to look very carefully.

It didn't take very long for him to find a third sensor, seeing the dim blue light on it flash once in a ready signal. Upon seeing what that sensor was attached to, he understood the purpose of the trap. He straightened up quickly and took a few quick steps back.

"Rev," Duck said, not taking his eyes off the laser trigger, "get back. _Now_."

Duck's tone didn't leave room for questioning, and Rev didn't hesitate to quietly follow Duck about fifteen feet back from where they were.

"What-is-it?" Rev asked, nervously looking back towards the trap.

"I don't know what it's called, but the laser sensor is connected to another sensor behind the tree on the left that sets off the trap. A long branch from the tree is set up so that it's drawn as far back as possible. Once the trap is sprung, it'll release the branch and make it whip forwards, probably with enough force to break bones."

"Ooh," Rev groaned with a grimace. "Well-we-have-to-find-a-way-to-set-that-off-before-someone-else-does."

"I think if we stay back here but throw stuff at it, it'll go," Duck stated, starting to collect sticks and rocks from the ground.

"Good-plan!" Rev joined him until they had a decent sized stash of odd objects to throw. Rev immediately grabbed several handfuls, either throwing a few at once or single ones fast enough to not be able to tell the difference. None of which hit their targets, and very few even came close.

Duck simply watched for a moment before moving, catching Rev's arm as he was about to throw one of their last rocks. "Allow me," he said, taking the rock from the roadrunner's hand and turning to face his target. He only had a general idea of where it was, since the laser was beyond the visible spectrum, but even so, after a moment's contemplation, he tossed the rock and watched with satisfaction as the yellow lights turned red and the branch swung forth with a sickening crack.

Forget breaking bones- that thing could've sliced someone in half. Even though they were standing almost twenty feet away, they still felt the displaced air from the swinging branch.

"How-did-you-do-that?" Rev asked incredulously.

"Easy- I have practice," Duck replied smugly, forming one of his eggs in his hand as if to prove his point. He then idly tossed it behind him, watching with disinterest as it blew open and covered a tree with tar. "Come on; let's get out of here before somebody finds us."

Too late. Even as Duck said this, before either could take a step, a long, metallic arrow planted itself firmly into a tree between them at eye level, right between their heads, missing only by centimeters. They both stared at it in shock for a moment, before Rev zipped off.

They had their routine down by now; Rev would dash away in some direction or another in a straight line after setting off a trap, and after ascertaining in which direction it was, Duck would follow, Rev slowing down so the mallard could keep him in sight. This time, though, Duck took a moment to turn and look at the wildly cursing Lieutenant, struggling to line up his bow for another shot before quacking away after Rev.

They kept moving for a long while, Rev weaving his way through trees as Duck followed behind more slowly, needing to make sure he wouldn't end up quacking inside of something before moving but still running between quacks. Eventually they came to an old stone quarry, a large, very uneven area with steep, unstable edges leading down into the hole. Thankfully it wasn't very deep, but it was deep enough that Rev was able to recover from falling in by flying low to the ground right before landing and Duck was able to quack halfway down and roll into the impact, coming back up harmlessly and following Rev across the large quarry.

They came up on the other side, finally stopping to rest. Duck was gasping for breath by that point, and even Rev was breathing hard. They nervously peered over their shoulders, as if worried that the undersized Brit had managed to follow them through the forest and even over the quarry. Even so, they both breathed a sigh of relief at just barely making out the small form of the Lieutenant just emerging from the trees far on the other side of the quarry.

"Let's-get-out-of-here," Rev said, already walking back for the trees.

"Right behind you," Duck agreed, following Rev into the woods. That had been a close call; they were going to have to be more careful to stay alive. Of course, one could only be so careful when poking the bear.

**xoxoxoxox  
><strong>  
>"What if we made a bonfire? If we make it big enough and at night, maybe a boat will see it."<p>

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah, you're right, that wouldn't work...we're too far away from civilization, and the hunters would spot it, too... What if we could somehow send a message that was, oh, I don't know, coded somehow with our location in it? But then what kind of message...?"

"Uh..."

Lexi stopped her pacing and flopped down next to Slam with an irritated huff, aiming a glare at the island from their perch. They hadn't moved from their spot since they found each other, continuously searching and listening for any signs of their teammates. The only thing they got were general locations based on the sounds of gunshots. Realizing they were getting nowhere fast, they had tried coming up with another tactic to find their friends. They made even less ground even faster.

"Oh, it's no use! There's nothing we can do!" Lexi exclaimed hopelessly, burying her face in her hands. "We're no good to anyone if we get caught, but there's nothing more we can do without drawing attention to ourselves."

Slam sighed sadly in agreement. He hated feeling so useless. He was used to being able to use his brute strength to be able to solve problems and eliminate threats; while he was by no means stupid, he wasn't much help in problem solving situations. On top of that, he couldn't even offer much verbal support to Lexi. While he could usually get a general idea across, he lacked the ability to fully communicate through standard means. He considered it lucky that his friends could usually understand what he was trying to say through his (what Duck had once affectionately called) 'mindless blathering.'

So, for lack of anything better to do, he wrapped one of his arms around the distraught bunny's shoulders, offering comfort in one of the only ways he knew how. Lexi didn't seem to mind, if the way she leaned into his touch was anything to go by.

"Thanks, Slam..." she said quietly. "I'm going to go completely insane at this rate... And my fur is going to turn grey with worry. I'll look just like Ace..."

Slam couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of a very feminine-looking Ace walking around HQ. Lexi was apparently having similar thoughts, if her quiet giggle was anything to go by. He was glad she seemed to be cheering up and was, at least temporarily, coming out of her funk.

That is, right up until Lexi suddenly froze, eyes glowing and pink rings shooting up her ears.

"I hear someone..." she said quietly, focusing intently on her hearing. Slam took this as a good sign, smiling hopefully as he moved to stand so he could walk over and look down over their perch into the forest. However, Lexi grabbed his arm before he could even get off the ground, firmly anchoring him there with surprising strength.

"Wait," she hissed quietly, ducking down to stay out of sight. Slam followed suit, waiting for signs from Lexi as to what was going on, though he could hazard a guess.

At first, when she had heard the approaching footsteps, she had been hopeful like Slam. But then she realized, the footsteps were too heavy to be any of her teammates _other_ than Slam, and since he was next to her, that narrowed it down to the Colonel or the General. She was only proven right when she heard the much quieter paws and snuffling of dogs, two of them, along with another, quieter, more cautious set of footsteps that could only have belonged to the Lieutenant approaching from another direction.

She heard the dogs stop at the bottom of the incline she had climbed only days before, and was suddenly glad for the rainy weather, otherwise they surely would have found them. As it was, she was thankful that she and Slam were downwind of the questing dogs, and even more so when the Lieutenant called out to the other, distracting him from looking uphill.

"MacIntosh!" the Lieutenant called, now approaching faster. The dogs growled at his approach, and Lexi could hear the man she now knew to be the General hush them, though they didn't completely comply.

"Jennin's!" the General greeted warmly.

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd be heading West today?" the Lieutenant asked in his sharp British accent.

"I was, but tha dogs planned otherwise," the Scotsman replied with a laugh. "I think they just found an old scent, washed out from tha rain. I 'aven't seen anything so far today, and all I've seen is tha' duck. Bugger lost me a coupla' nights ago."

"Tough luck," the Lieutenant agreed. "All of us are having it. The Major has only seen glimpses of the roadrunner and one of the rabbits, and the Colonel has only seen one of the coyotes. At last count, three are still unaccounted for, and those are the ones we thought would go down first!"

"But tha's what makes it fun and sporting!" the General responded enthusiastically. "'Ave you seen anythin' yet? I heard ye were 'avin' trouble with yer traps."

"Yes, two of the Loonatics have been setting them off then fleeing."

"Two of 'em?"

"Indeed, the two avians. I chased them earlier, but they lost me over the quarry."

"Ah, tough luck, mate. Those two are probably two of tha hardest ta catch." Lexi heard the sounds of footsteps walking away- two sets of them, followed closely by the dogs.

"I am aware of that, but don't worry, I have something up my sleeve..." All too soon they were out of hearing range, but Lexi didn't relax for a few minutes until she was absolutely sure they were gone. The second she did, Slam was all over her, wondering what he had missed and worried over Lexi's dumbstruck expression.

"They're alive..." she breathed, mostly to herself, before turning and giving Slam a tight hug. "The others are _alive_! They're okay!"

"Huh?" Slam grunted unintelligently, confused at the recent turn of events.

"It was the General and Lieutenant," Lexi began, going off into a rant that would have left Rev stunned. "They were talking, and said that no one had caught anyone yet, and that they hadn't even found some of us, yet- though, two of those are probably us, and the other is either Tech or Sive based on their conversation- but Ace got away from the Major and one of the coyotes got away from the Colonel and Rev and Duck found each other and are messing with the Lieutenant and they're all _okay_!"

Slam didn't entirely follow what she had said, but he got enough if it to recognize that his teammates were alright. Three days in, and not a single one of them had been caught. It sounded as though there had been some close calls, but that didn't matter- they got away. What's more, he and Lexi weren't the only ones to have found someone else.

It seemed as though they really could get through this. They'd find each other, they'd bag the bad guys, and they'd go home. That's what he had to keep telling himself. But what's more, it now actually seemed like a possibility and not just some false-hope filled mantra.

**A/N: Yay for hope! Okay, so the next one will feature Sive, Tech, and Ace, and a lot of buildup will happen there. We're nearing the end, folks! Next up, Day 4, more than halfway through! Lot's of excitement in the next one, so buckle in!**

**Review? PWEAZ? *puppy dog eyes***


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Everyone always seems to want bad news first, so I'm putting it here. It's the last few weeks before the end of school. It's cram-central, and it's starting early this year. So, updates will happen when they happen from here until the end of May. I will try my best to keep up my one chapter every two or so weeks, but I can't promise anything. I know of three projects I will have practically simultaneously, not to mention two essays and two books to read on top of AP Exams. Joy. The good news is that I have a (surprise) road trip tomorrow, and come back Monday, and a three day weekend next weekend (though that will mostly be taken up by one of the three projects,) so I hope to have a chapter up next weekend, or very soon after. Now that the bad news is over, enjoy the chapter! Part one of the good news is that this one is fairly long, so I hope it was worth the wait! (Good news part two comes in the second A/N!)**

_Day 4_

Sive hadn't planned to stop and rest anytime soon, experience telling her to keep moving for as long as possible, and she belatedly realized that that was just what she had done. However, that still couldn't prompt her to move from her perch on a large tree stump, staring thoughtfully at the unblinking yellow light well concealed in the thick grass and tree droppings a few feet away. She would have missed it when she had come across it earlier, had the winds not picked up again and shifted the foliage just so. She had then taken her seat and hadn't moved since, staring intently at the little light, trying to figure out its purpose.

It was times like then that she sincerely wished that she wasn't alone; of all of the Loonatics, she had the least experience with technology, and would have bet a large sum of money that anyone other than herself would have been able to ascertain its function. Tech and Rev, at the very least, would have been able to. Instead, she had to do it the old fashioned way- deduction. She could have always tested, but she figured it would have been unpleasant.

For whatever reason, her mind continued shifting away from whatever the possibly insignificant light may have been to the conversation she had overheard two nights ago between the Colonel and the Major. No matter how much she tried, she simply couldn't shake the feeling that she had missed something important. While learning that all of her friends were still alright- at least, as of two days ago- she knew that there was something else significant. She didn't see what, though; all she had heard was that Ace and Duck had experienced near-misses, Rev wasn't going to be caught anytime soon, three of them- Lexi, Slam, and, by process of elimination, Tech- hadn't even been seen yet, and someone was even going so far as to mess with the Lieutenant's traps-

It was like her train of thought instantly stopped in place and backpedaled. _Traps_. The island was so big, it would have been impossible for the Lieutenant to set out enough traps for them to be effective and be able to check them all in a timely manner. That meant he had to have some other way of keeping track of them- sensors, no doubt, that notified him whenever they went off. She was probably looking right at one. And with this realization, a light bulb turned on.

She smirked a truly devious smirk, a smirk that spoke of such mischief and ill-intention that would have made the Grinch back away slowly before running away in terror. Oh, she knew _exactly_ what she was going to do, and didn't doubt that the results would be wondrous.

Standing up off her stump, she strode over to the trap, tentatively clearing away the grass and bracken near the sensor with her foot. She eventually uncovered a small metal plate, no doubt a pressure trigger, with a thin wire loop resting upon it. Following the wire with her eyes, she saw that it led up into a tree, over a branch, and out the other side where she couldn't see. It was so thin, no one would have noticed it unless they were looking for it. Without another moment to lose, she carefully pressed a toe onto the corner of the plate, outside the loop, triggering the trap. The light changed to red, and the loop suddenly shot up into the air, abruptly stopping several feet above the ground.

It was a comically simple trap, though potentially deadly. If she hadn't noticed it and had stepped on it, the loop would have tightened around her foot with the release- no doubt the thin wire digging into her skin as well- before shooting upwards, taking her with it and cracking her head on the ground. If that didn't knock her out, the she would have been able to get out easily with her powers, but someone else may not have been as lucky.

Eyeing the now red sensor, she stayed put for a moment, considering her options, before choosing a tree a bit to the left. She climbed up to a point where she could still see the trap while looking down without being easily spotted from the ground. And so, she waited for her unwary opponent to make an appearance.

**xoxoxoxox**  
><span>  
>Ace stopped as Tech stumbled again, his foot slipping and sending him gut-first into the branch, winding him. Quickly executing a back flip, Ace landed on the branch he had just come from, bending down to help his friend up.<p>

"Maybe we should stop," Ace said. It wasn't a question, not even a recommendation, and Tech knew it. He wordlessly acquiesced, moving to sit on the branch near the trunk of the tree as Ace jumped down to sit one branch lower.

"I told you I'd just slow you down, Chief," Tech murmured, laying back with a groan. They'd been moving ever since meeting each other after their surprise nap, neither one feeling like stopping again save for the short breaks Ace imposed every so often for Tech's sake.

Tech wasn't bothered at all by the no sleep bit; he hardly ever slept as it was, typically spending days on end in his lab until Rev and/or Sive came down and bugged him enough to take a rest. He figured that was bothering Ace more than himself. No, his issue was their mode of transportation. Simply put, coyotes weren't meant to travel through trees. Ace, as a rabbit, could jump far with ease, and his extra training and flexibility meant he could stick the landings without breathing hard. Tech, on the other hand, could not do these things, and was struggling along. He was already sore from the previous days of this, and their desired pace wasn't helping.

"And I'm pretty sure I told you somethin' along da lines of I know dat, but I'm not gonna leave ya behind," Ace retorted, comfortably situating himself on his branch and looking towards the sky. The clouds hadn't cleared, but the wind seemed to be having a bi-polar fit. Earlier it had been billowing about like it had for the past few days, but since then it had died down to near nothingness, making it very hot and humid on the island.

Ace was worried. Four days had gone by, and he and Tech had seen no sign of their teammates. All they had to go on were the nerve wracking sounds of rifle fire, and even that had quieted since yesterday. The silence was eerie and foreboding. Even more so was the fact that they hadn't seen any of the hunters, Ace since his run-in with the Major and Tech had yet to see them at all.

"It's like da calm before da storm..." Ace said quietly to himself.

"Hm?" Tech asked, leaning down to look at Ace. "You say something?"

"Nah, forget about it," Ace replied dismissively. "Just thinkin'." A few minutes of silence passed. "How do ya think de others are doin'?"

"Speaking as a friend, I'm naturally worried," Tech replied, sounding calm despite his words, "but from a realistic point of view, I shouldn't be."

"Why's dat?" Ace asked with interest, thankful for any kind of distraction from his morose thoughts and even more so if it put some of his worries to rest.

"Well, think about it: You're fast, flexible, and smart enough to be able to avoid anyone that gives chase to you. I'm smart enough to avoid being spotted in the first place and to get away easily in the event that I was seen. Rev is too fast to catch. Duck can get out of any bad spot in the blink of an eye. And so on and so forth." Tech lazily laid back on the branch again covering his eyes with one arm and letting one leg dangle as though he didn't have a care in the world. He was trying to reassure Ace by seeming to be at ease, and it seemed to be working. "We're all too good at what we do to avoid getting caught."

"What about Slam and de goils?" Darn, and Tech had hoped he wouldn't ask.

"I'll admit, I'm a little worried for them," Tech stated, straightening up a bit. "Nothing to really fret over, they just don't have the natural outs the rest of us do. For example, Slam is easy to spot and leaves a trail. However, that's not to say he isn't aware of that and won't be careful to stay out of sight." And suddenly it dawned on Tech what Ace really wanted to know. He leaned down to look the rabbit in the eye. "Lexi's probably just fine, Ace. She's a panicker, that's the only thing I'm worried about. She can handle herself."

"I know," Ace said, sounding resigned. "I just..._really_ don't wanna see her hurt because of me. Don't get me wrong, I don't wanna see anyone hurt, but for one thing, she _is_ my goilfriend. For another, like I said earlier, she had tried warning me dat somethin' was up and I was kinda mean about it. I wanna make sure I get da chance ta apologize, at da very least."

"First of all, I thought we already played the blame game," Tech stated smartly. "Second of all, you do realize that Lexi holds a grudge about as well as Rev, right? She won't be mad at you, and I'll bet she hasn't even thinking about it."

Tech almost missed Ace's quiet, pessimistic grumble. "Yeah, no doubt too busy with other problems..."

"_Ace_," Tech intoned beseechingly.

"I know, I know," Ace retorted, sounding more like a petulant teenager than a worried leader. "Dis whole thing is just throwin' me off. I just need ta know dat de others are okay. I'm...I'm _terrified_, Tech."

Tech knew how much it took Ace to say that. It was one of the first times he had ever heard him say it. He had always tried to keep a clear head, to show no fear. It made him seem in control of the situation, and on top of that, if the team leader panicked, everyone panicked. Well, that was the theory, anyway. Tech was more relieved that he had said it, glad that Ace had finally gotten something off of his plate.

A heavy silence fell upon the two after that. It wasn't awkward, more accepting. Ace was basking in the feeling of relief he had after saying that out loud. Tech was simply waiting for the other to make his next move, ready to do whatever was needed to help Ace, his leader and his friend.

"...What about Sive?" Ace asked after a while, feeling that a change in subject was needed.

That threw Tech for a loop. "Uh, what about her?"

"Well, ya said why ya were worried 'bout Slam and Lex, may as well cover da whole team. What about Sive? Why ya worried 'bout her?"

"Oh, ah, I'm not. I mean, I shouldn't be, at least, I mean, _gah_..." Ace had to try very hard to keep from laughing at the poor coyote's sudden change of demeanor. The sudden shift from his usual cool, calm, and collected to the unsure stumbling over words- which he _never_ did- was actually fairly amusing. And highly interesting...

"What's up with you all of a sudden?" Ace asked good humouredly.

"I don't know!" Tech sounded very distraught, and looked it too, if burying his face in his hands was anything to go by. It took a lot for Ace to keep himself from laughing at the poor coyote's expense. "I just- ah, forget it. I really _shouldn't_ be worried, though. She's the one I should be _least_ worried about! I mean, she's done this before, for crying out loud!"

"Ya sound like you're pretty bothered by dis, Tech," Ace pointed out, sounding very interested now. This was proving to be a great distraction.

"Are you insinuating something?" Tech asked with a hefty dose of suspicion lacing his voice. His self defense only led to more intrigue from Ace, who was starting to draw his own conclusions.

"Dat depends; you hidin' somethin'?" Ace jabbed good-naturedly.

"No!" Tech replied a little too quickly. "...At least, I don't think I am... I don't know, Chief. Do you think I'm hiding something? If so, I would appreciate it if you clued me in as to what."

Ace finally allowed a quiet chuckle to escape, reaching one possible conclusion as to Tech's plight. Even if it was false, it would be great to tease him with it. "Ah, how ta put dis... Tech, do ya ever notice dat-"

Ace never finished that question, for he instantly quieted as an all-too familiar sound assaulted their ears- the barking and howling of the dogs, and it was getting closer. They definitely weren't smelling them and tracking them that way, but dogs did have sensitive hearing and they had probably heard their conversation. On top of that, where there were dogs, there were hunters, and while the trees in their area were myriad in number, they had few leaves to give them anything by way of cover.

"Run!" Ace ordered, quickly rocketing off his branch in one fluid motion and landing on the next tree, continuing on their path in hopes of losing their newly acquired company.

Tech followed as closely as he could, but quickly fell behind. He was tired, and his limbs felt like lead. While Ace moved quickly, almost gracefully, he landed heavily on each new tree, needing to pause a moment before coiling up and springing onto the next one. However, he still managed to keep up fairly well, never losing sight of Ace or losing his balance.

Until his foot slipped clean off a branch.

He even slid so that he should have ended up sitting on the branch, but he kept right on going, not stopping until he hit the ground thankfully not that far below. Rolling with the impact, he stopped a couple of feet away and tried to quickly catch his breath so he could catch up to Ace again. His attention was diverted, however, when he noticed the substance the tree was covered in.

Tar- sticky, black tar. Finding himself half-covered in it as well, he realized that that was what he had slipped on. He could only conclude that it had come from Duck, and it had to have been relatively recent since it was still wet. A good sign from his friends to be sure, but currently very bad for him.

"Tech!" The coyote snapped his attention back to his current predicament, quickly turning to find Ace frantically searching for him a good distance away. He then turned in the other direction, hearing the dogs getting closer. They were too close already, he'd never make it back into the trees and get far enough away fast enough to avoid being seen, and he knew he wouldn't be able to outrun them up there.

Making a snap decision, he quickly got to his feet, turning back to Ace in the process. Ace spotted him with the movement, and started jumping back to get to him.

"No!" Tech shouted at him, making the bunny stop in his tracks. "You keep going, I'll draw them off!"

The coyote ignored Ace's outraged cry of "You'll WHAT?", instead running off on a course perpendicular to Ace's. Not a moment later, Ace saw the dogs tear through, stopping abruptly as they caught his scent and followed off after the coyote, howling all the way to alert their master.

Ace moved as though to follow Tech, but spotted the hunter below him out of the corner of his eye just in time to backpedal and fling himself behind the trunk just as the General below him fired and turned the leaves where he had just been standing into Swiss cheese. He had no choice but to keep moving in that direction, away from Tech, as the General continued firing until he ran out of ammo and had to stop and reload.

Tech, on the other hand, was doing much better than he had been in the trees. While he wasn't particularly fast on his feet, he wasn't slow, either, and managed to keep enough distance between himself and the dogs such that he couldn't see them and vise-versa. He knew it wouldn't be long until he was unable to keep it up anymore, though, still being tired and sore from his run in the trees. He was running some options through his head when a sound caught his attention. Hoping he wasn't wrong in assuming what it was, he quickly changed direction, sprinting with new strength.

He had been right. The rush of the fast-moving river was unmistakable, the clear blue water seeming to shimmer in the little light offered through the clouds as it quickly cut its way through the forest. It was calm enough to not be a danger, but wide, deep, and fast enough to offer an escape.

And so without another thought, Tech dived into the water, letting it take him downstream and away from the dogs.

**A/N: When I said the characters that would be here last chapter, this wasn't what any of you had in mind as to what would happen, was it? XD **

**So, good news part two! For those of you who want to see something happen to the hunters, the wait is over! Next chapter: Sive has some fun at the Lieutenant's expense!**

**R&R!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Busy weekend is busy… DX Okay, so I got this (very long) chapter up when I wanted, which was a miracle in itself. The next chapter, however, may be in the two week + zone, due to an AP test, three projects, visiting grandparents, home redecorating, and a partridge in a pear tree. That one will most likely be on the longer side and feature all seven Loonatics, so hopefully it will be worth the wait. Until then, please enjoy the Lieutenant getting what's coming to him. XD**

_Day 4 cont._

Rev and Duck were silently walking through the dense forest, looking for traps without any real energy. Not a word had been spoken between them since late last night, after Duck had fallen asleep while Rev kept watch. Being left alone with his thoughts wasn't good for the roadrunner, and as odd as it may have seemed, he had been relying on _Duck_ to help keep him in good spirits. Without being able to talk to him and keep his mind on other topics, he had quickly degenerated into a depressed funk that Duck had been unable to get him out of in the morning, though not for lack of trying. The mallard was being strangely supportive throughout this whole ordeal.

As long as they continued to find no signs of their friends, though, it seemed inevitable. With so little to go on as to their friends well-being or lack thereof, and based upon the little negative evidence they had, it did seem pretty bleak. It had been only a matter of time until one of them lost hope, and though it was surprising that the usually cheerful Rev had gone before the pessimistic Duck, it wasn't entirely unexpected.

They had continued on their way, searching for traps for a few hours when they found it, the sensor sticking up out of the ground, the yellow light clearly visible in the shade of the tree. It was sticking a good three or four inches out of the ground, innocuously sitting out in the open for all to see.

Rev saw it first, and zipped over to it to inspect what it was hooked up to. "Here's-one."

Duck followed much slower, watching as Rev carefully inspected the area near the sensor for the trap. After a few moments, the roadrunner tentatively stuck out one foot and gingerly applied pressure to it, making a hum of approval as the ground started to give way with his weight before pulling back.

"I-thought-so-I'm-surprised-we-haven't-found-one-of-these-yet-they're-so-common-and-basic-and-yet-maybe-that's-why," Rev rambled as Duck cautiously approached, squatting down to gingerly poke the ground, quickly pulling back as it again began to give way.

"That's great and all, Rev, but what is it?" Duck asked, looking up to the roadrunner in confusion.

"Well-it-could-be-called-a-Man-Trap-or-a-Bear-Trap-or-a-Tiger-Trap-or-a-Lion-Trap-it-really-depends-on-what-you're-trying-to-catch."

"So, Man Trap, then," Duck stated dryly as he straightened up. "I've seen these in movies. They're just holes covered with leaves and sticks, right? Think there are spikes at the bottom?"

"No-it's-not-wide-enough-for-them-to-be-effective," Rev stated blandly, starting to walk away. "We-need-to-find-something-heavy-to-drop-on-it-to-set-it-off."

"Right." Duck was about to follow off after Rev, when he almost stepped on the sensor, recoiling just in time to avoid hurting his foot. It did, however, draw his attention to something. "Hey, Rev? Was this just out here in the open like this?"

"Hm?" Rev turned around for only a moment to see what Duck was asking about, catching a glance of him looking quizzically at the sensor. "Oh-yeah-it-was-why-do-you-ask?"

"Something's not right here...why would it be out in the open?"

Rev stopped at that, turning fully around to also give the sensor a look. "Maybe-it-was-buried-earlier-and-the-wind-uncovered-it?"

"What could've covered it? A pile of leaves that big would've drawn attention, and I don't see any rocks around to bury it under," Duck reasoned, now surveying the whole area with suspicion. Rev moved to join him again, carefully skirting the covered hole in the ground and scanning the area, half expecting a hunter (most likely the Lieutenant) to jump out of the foliage.

He should've been looking down.

Even Rev wasn't able to react fast enough when the loud, mechanical beep sounded, signaling the simultaneous activation of a trap. He and Duck could only let out startled cries of alarm as a wire net shot up out of its own covering of grass and leaves, trapping Rev inside several feet off the ground and revealing the previously hidden pressure sensor mere feet away from the Man Trap. Another, very well hidden sensor announced itself with another short beep, emitting a blinking red light from its spot in some knotted tree roots.

"Rev!" Duck cried in alarm, hopping over the Man Trap and running towards the trapped roadrunner who was desperately struggling to escape his prison.

"What-just-happened?" Rev shouted, sounding hysterical as he ceased his struggling and twisted awkwardly to look at Duck.

"We were set up!" Duck exclaimed, desperately searching the ground for some sort of release. "That sensor was put out in the open so we'd come here-"

"-only-to-fall-into-_this_-trap!" Rev finished. "Duck-get-me-out-of-here-the-Lieutenant-could-show-up-at-any-minute!"

"I know that already!" Duck responded, also sounding hysterical, his adrenaline running wild as he now frantically searched, ripping up grass and leaves from the ground in hopes of unburying something that would get the roadrunner down. "I can't find the release anywhere!"

"It-could-be-up-in-the-tree-somewhere-I-can't-see-though-the-leaves."

"I'll go look," Duck said as he straightened up. "You sit tight! I'll be right back!"

And with that, he quacked up into the tree, reappearing just in time to hear Rev's sarcastic reply of, "It's-not-like-I'm-going-anywhere-anytime-soon!" He quickly climbed up further into the tree, following the wires suspending Rev above the ground until they came to a fork in the thick trunk, finding the ends of the wires firmly affixed inside of a heavy clamp-like device that was even more firmly affixed to the trunk. The mallard wrestled with it for a moment, trying to pry it off and getting nowhere fast. He didn't see any way to get it off, so he instead switched to pulling on the wires to see if they were loose. Quickly stopping that course of action after cutting his thumb on one of them, he quacked back to ground level.

"Anything?" Rev asked, in the process of trying to maneuver himself into a different position.

"No, but I'll figure something out. Try not to move too much; I already cut myself on one of those wires," Duck advised, showing Rev his injured hand.

"I-know-that-already-have-you-seen-my-back?" Rev asked, drawing Duck's attention to the fact that the backside of his shirt already had a crisscross pattern cut into it, along with a few on his legs and arms. Thankfully none had broken through his feathers to his skin as of yet. "So-I-can't-fly-out-and-releasing-the-trap-is-out-of-the-question."

"What if I used one of my eggs?" Duck offered, eyes glowing as he began forming one in his hand.

"Nononononono!" Rev rapidly interrupted, putting a quick stop to Duck's action. "The-only-one-of-your-eggs-that-would-do-anything-is-a-fire-egg-and-I'm-not-too-keen-on-having-hot-magma-dripping-on-me."

"Good point," Duck conceded. "Here, I'll be right back!"

The mallard ran off into the woods and, fortunately for Rev's frayed nerves, did return quickly. He had a sharp rock in his hand, and immediately began trying to slice through the netting with it.

"Duck-this'll-take-hours!" Rev exclaimed as the mallard cut his hand yet again on the sharp wire.

"Well until we come up with a better idea, I'm going to keep trying this!" Duck retorted, wiping his hand on his pants and continuing his task.

"Duck-you-do-realize-that-_you_-at-least-need-to-get-out-of-here-before-the-Lieutenant-shows-up-right?"

"Hush, you!" Duck ordered, not taking his eyes from his mission. There was no way he'd leave the verbose roadrunner behind, even if he had to fight off the short Brit to do it. He sincerely wished that he could quack with someone else to get Rev out of there, but he couldn't, so he'd just have to free the roadrunner the hard way.

He'd deal with the hunters when it came to it.

**xoxoxoxox**

Sive was still sitting up in her tree, now idly fingering her mother's necklace, waiting for the Lieutenant to make an appearance. She had been waiting for a couple of hours already, and boredom had set in a while ago. Of course, she easily kept it at bay with thoughts of what was to come, and eagerly awaited the diminutive Brit's arrival.

Even as the thought crossed her mind, she heard a stick snap directly below her. Jerking to attention, she quickly dropped her necklace back into her shirt for safekeeping before looking down, and was inordinately pleased to see the Lieutenant sneaking about below her, crossbow at the ready as he took a few cautious steps towards the clearing where his trap had been set. Then, he suddenly leapt, barreling into the clearing and pointing his crossbow at the empty trap.

"Bloody hell!" he shouted in aggravation, throwing his crossbow to the ground in a fit of rage and whipping his hat off. Sive had to try very hard not to laugh out loud at him, but settled for a quiet snicker as he stomped forward and began meticulously resetting his trap.

Sive crept forward, jumping to the next tree as quietly as possible to make her way directly above the unsuspecting Lieutenant. She moved slowly, but had all the time in the world. As she came to her desired point, he was just finishing up recovering the trap, looking around on the off chance something caught his eye.

She had just coiled up, ready to spring down at him when it happened. The silence of the forest was interrupted by a loud chime, almost like a phone ringtone, bringing Sive to a stop to see what had happened.

The Lieutenant, upon hearing the noise, immediately reached into his pocket, pulling out a device that looked very much like the large calculators college physics majors had to carry around. He looked at the screen a moment before giggling- _giggling! _-with glee, quickly retrieving his hat and his crossbow, plopping the former on his head and strapping the latter to his back, before jogging off, giddily looking at the screen every few seconds.

To say that Sive was creeped out by the episode was an understatement. She had never seen a grown (if that adjective could be applied to the Lieutenant) man giggle before, and quickly decided that she never wanted to again. And that it couldn't have meant anything good.

Putting her previous plan on hold- she was nothing if not flexible, after all- she quickly jumped to the ground, landing with the grace of a cat and tearing off after the unwary Lieutenant. She made sure to keep a good distance between herself and him, keeping him just barely in sight and well within hearing distance. The Lieutenant did have to stop and rest a few times, but he continued on his way for a few miles, even after it got dark.

Sive pulled up behind a tree as the Lieutenant stopped again, but she knew that this time, it wasn't for a rest. She could hear voices up ahead, and was fairly certain that she knew who they belonged to. The Lieutenant's intentions were clear; he had pulled his crossbow off of his back, holding it at the ready and still had the calculator-like device in one hand with the bow as he crept forward, his silent shadow hot on his heels.

The bespectacled man paused for a moment behind some bushes, peering over them and smirking in delight at what he saw. Without a moment to lose, he leapt through the foliage, coming out the other side with a triumphant "HA!"

Two screams echoed out into the woods, Duck actually shrieking and throwing his stone into the air as he spun around to face the Lieutenant while Rev restarted his struggling.

"Duck-get-out-of-here!" Rev ordered.

"No, thanks," Duck replied, quickly regaining his composure and forming two eggs in his hands, leveling a threatening glare at the Brit across from them as he moved to stand between him and Rev.

"I figured you two would fall for that," the Lieutenant stated smugly, slightly shifting his posture to aim his weapon directly at Duck. "Or at least, one of you would. Serves you two buggers right for messing with my traps, but I suppose two for the price of one will make it all worthwhile. Two birds, one stone, and all that."

"You're not getting either of us, short-stack!" Duck declared. "I've got two eggs right here with your name on them!"

"First of all, you're not very creative," the Lieutenant said blandly in response to Duck's name calling. "Second, you fail to grasp the situation. I can fire off an arrow long before you could even think of throwing one of those, and if you move, it'll just hit your speedy friend back there."

Duck wavered, his posture falling slightly as he gave Rev a despondent look out of the corner of his eye. Meanwhile, Sive chose that moment to make her move.

"Now, I don't have all day," the Brit continued, "so I think I'll give you the pleasure of being the first of the Loonatics to go."

Duck braced himself, unsure of what he should do. Rev was crying out to him, trying to get him to leave, but Duck ignored him, trying to sort things out for himself. He didn't want to leave Rev, but his fight-or-flight instinct was screaming at him to make like the bird he was and take off.

He only belatedly realized that he wouldn't have to choose when he noticed the Lieutenant suddenly freeze, a figure taking shape behind him in the gloom.

"Unless you want to figure out through experimentation which is faster, electricity or a crossbow, then I recommend you put that thing down," a very familiar, very welcome voice advised coldly from behind the Lieutenant.

"_Sive_?" Rev and Duck intoned at the same time, Duck's more a question while Rev's was more an exclamation of relief.

"You wouldn't," the Lieutenant stated, ignoring the two in front of him for a moment. He didn't sound nearly as sure as he wanted to. "You're supposed to be the good guy here."

"Wanna bet?" Sive retorted, also temporarily giving the Englishman her full attention. "You've kept us on the run for days, my nerves are stretched pretty thin right now, and you're currently pointing a weapon at my teammates."

Despite her words, she wouldn't actually have zapped him. Well, not with deadly force, anyway, but only if it came to it. Either way, she was getting great enjoyment simply out of feeling him trembling hard enough to be slightly shaking her entire arm through the hand she had planted onto his back.

"Y-you're bluffing," the diminutive Brit tried once more, his stutter giving him away this time. Now even the crossbow was shaking, and Rev and Duck could plainly see just how unsure he was of the electric coyote's moral and/or psychological standing. If they also were unable to see her amused half-smile and knowing wink, they wouldn't have been, either. Despite her visible lax attitude, her voice was cold as ice, and she sounded so threatening, it gave the two a new respect for their more reclusive teammate.

"I have little to no patience right now, so I'll give you to the count of three to drop it," Sive stated simply, sounding detached, but giving a roll of her eyes as the bespectacled man's trembling increased even more.

"You d-don't have it in you," he attempted again.

"One."

"You're cr-cr-crazy!" he exclaimed, now trembling so much the two Loonatics watching the scene unfold across from them were surprised that he hadn't lost his hat and glasses. However, it didn't seem to cross his mind that insulting the one threatening him may not have been the best idea.

"Two and a half."

"Wh-wh-wh-what happened to two?" he shouted, desperation seeping into his voice.

"Three," Sive said blandly. This was accompanied by a shock, about equal to that of the static received when rubbing a balloon on one's head. Even so, it was very rewarding to hear the Lieutenant shriek like a little girl while jumping as high as he was tall, chucking the crossbow and calculator-esque device in the process.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Sive said cheerily, giving the Lieutenant a cheeky smile behind his back. It was all she could do to keep from laughing at him. As it was, Rev was holding his own beak and shaking with repressed laughter behind Duck's back, while the mallard himself was having a hard time keeping his face from twitching.

At the Lieutenant's befuddled look, though, they lost it, degenerating into quiet giggles. Not that the ex-army man noticed, too busy focusing on the potentially dangerous being behind him. He was trying to decide whether she actually was dangerous, or was just screwing with him for amusement.

"So, what do you plan on doing now?" the Lieutenant asked warily.

"Good question," Sive replied, thinking it over. She couldn't very well just leave him there, he'd just come after them again and keep up with his traps.

And suddenly, she was struck with inspiration.

Giving another evil smirk, she simply took a step forward and gave the Lieutenant a good shove. Not expecting the sudden movement, the short Englishman couldn't stop himself from stumbling forward. The Man Trap emitted a sharp crack as it gave in, dropping the Lieutenant with a yelp. There was a thud, followed by a soft "Ow," followed by a round of wild cursing, aimed mostly towards Sive.

"That felt good," Sive stated with a smile, peering into the hole for a moment to make sure he wasn't getting out before taking a step back towards her two teammates. She was then promptly attack-hugged by Duck.

"I've never been so happy to see you in my entire life!" he exclaimed, actually lifting the taller coyote off the ground in his excitement.

"Thanks...I think," Sive responded, trying to wrench herself out of the mallard's crushing grip. When that failed, she simply phased through him, landing behind him as he stumbled at the sudden loss of weight. "I'm happy to see you, too, but I think I'll save the breaking-in-half for Slam."

"Heh, heh, sorry..." Duck said nervously as Sive relievedly rubbed her midsection.

"For-the-record-I'm-also-really-happy-to-see-you-alright-and-your-timing-is-impeccable-and-I-do-plan-on-giving-you-a-proper-hello-but-would-you-mind-helping-me-down-because-my-back-really-hurts-and-I'm-just-not-meant-to-bend-this-way," Rev interjected, getting Sive's attention.

"Sure thing, Rev," Sive replied, walking over and reaching up to grab one of Rev's arms. "Duck, you come over here, too, and help me catch him before he falls."

Once everyone was in position, Sive used her phasing powers on Rev, causing him to easily slip through the wires like they weren't even there. She stopped as she and Duck caught him before pushing the roadrunner back up to his feet. They didn't even have time to get out from under the net before Rev turned around again and also wrapped Sive up in a tight hug, though Rev was nowhere near as strong as Duck.

"Sive-you're-here-and-you're-okay-I-was-so-worried-because-we-hadn't-seen-any-sign-of-anyone-but-now-you're-here-and-everything's-okay-and-where-did-you-come-from?"

Sive couldn't help the smile that spread on her face at Rev's multiple-train-of-thought ramble. She simply hadn't realized how much she had missed it. Even Duck's pessimism would be a nice change of pace to the on-my-own existence again.

"I followed him here," Sive said as she extricated herself from Rev, pointing down at the Lieutenant in his hole. "I set off one of his traps and waited for him to show. I was just going to jump him when he did, but then he- oh, wait! Where did that thing go?"

"What thing?" Duck asked in response to Sive suddenly looking around for something, also looking for…whatever she was looking for.

She made a triumphant sound as she saw it, rushing over to pick it up and display it to the others. "This!" she said proudly, handing the calculator-like device to Rev. "He pulled it out and used it to get here, I think. It may be a map of some sorts."

Rev inspected it critically, trying to figure out how it works, for it had gone into standby mode in the interim. "Give-me-a-minute-to-figure-this-out-and-then-we'll-see-what-it's-for."

"Right. So, what've you been doing this whole time?" Duck asked, turning to Sive while Rev fiddled with the device.

"Surviving. You?"

"We've been messing with stumpy's traps," Duck answered with an air of superiority.

"I gathered by his monologue. You two got lucky- poking the bear isn't a very good idea. So, other than thoroughly ruining shorty's day, did anything else come of it?"

"Sadly, no. We haven't seen any sign of anyone else, and haven't even seen any hunters other than him," Duck replied dejectedly.

"I take it you weren't listening when he said you two would have been the first of us to go," Sive pointed out knowingly, smiling as they both visibly brightened at that. "I haven't seen anyone, either, though I have seen all of the hunters. Them seeing me is another matter; other than the small one in the hole, the only other one who's seen me was the Colonel, and he didn't even know it was me he saw."

"Show off," Duck huffed, prompting a laugh from Sive.

"Hey-I-got-it!" Rev interrupted. "You'll-never-guess-what-this-thing-is-it-monitors-all-of-his-traps-on-the-island-it-has-a-full-map-with-markers-and-everything-and-it-sends-an-immediate-alert-when-one-goes-off."

"I could've guessed that!" Duck exclaimed. "So why is that a big deal."

"Because if anyone else sets off a trap-" Sive began, seeing the big picture.

"We-can-get-to-them-before-anyone-else-does," Rev finished, all three brightening at the concept. "None-are-set-off-now-but-we-just-have-to-wait-until-one-does-and-with-how-fast-Duck-and-I-move-we-can-be-there-in-a-heartbeat!"

"So, we now have a way to find the others?" Duck confirmed.

"Yep." Sive replied. "We just have to sit tight until something happens. We should keep moving, though, otherwise we'll just be found again."

The three set off into the woods, ignoring the Lieutenants shouts of "What about me?" They had more important things to do than deal with him. They still had four more teammates to find, and now, they had a way to do it. Things were finally looking up.

**A/N: Hooray for optimism! Okay, we're nearing the end, folks! We're in the 5 chapters or less zone now, so hang on for the ride! I'll say this- it will NOT be done before the end of the school year, but it will be done soon after, so please bear with me through these last weeks of hardship via homework before a liberating summer. (No summer school this year, yay!) So until next time, please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: …I'm sorry. Long story short, projects, tests, computer troubles, finals, cutting couches in half with jigsaws, and visiting grandparents. DX *bricked to death***

**So, let's hope **_**that **_**never happens again… Hoping the longness will make up for the lateness, though it was pretty spectacular, even for myself. Anywho, this chapter isn't particularly exciting and is full of misunderstandings and conclusion-jumping! As I said last chapter, all seven Loonatics are featured here. Also, I think I lied. A little more than five chapters to go I believe. Six or seven, I think. Until then, enjoy this one!**

_Day 5_

Lexi and Slam were starting to second guess their plan of staying put until they found their teammates from their high-ground perch. Late yesterday, still having seen no one and knowing that the situation wouldn't improve at night, they had opted to go to sleep. Not an hour later, though, Lexi had been awoken by the distant sound of people screaming. She hadn't been sure who or where it had come from, only that it was too far away for her and Slam to do anything. Sleeping had then been out of the question for the pink bunny, and she hadn't wanted to worry Slam, so she stayed up for the rest of the night, closely listening for any other signs of life in the once again silent forest.

Slam had been surprised when morning came and he found Lexi already awake. She had been sleeping less than he had, so he was shocked that he had slept more than her. Upon hearing her explanation, though, he had immediately shifted into a depressed worry, calming minutely only when Lexi told him that she hadn't heard any weapons of any kind. It was a cold comfort.

Still, they were struck by the realization that perhaps staying put wasn't the best idea. If they had been elsewhere, they may have been able to help whoever-it-was last night, or at least get to them in a timely way. While being in their perch had its merits, they were now aware of its downsides as well. Because of this, they were entertaining the idea of leaving their safe spot.

"If we leave, we won't be able to see everything anymore," Lexi stated, earning a nod of agreement from Slam. "But if we leave, then we'll also be closer to the others, because I'd hear them if they were anywhere around here." Another nod. "But we'd also be putting ourselves at risk because the hunters haven't come up here, and they're all over the place down there." Another nod. "Do you have any input, or are you just going to keep nodding?"

Slam just barely stopped himself from nodding again. "Uhh..." he replied unintelligently, looking skyward for inspiration before shrugging.

Lexi sighed, rubbing her tired eyes with her hands. She was so out of it, she almost didn't notice the approaching footsteps. The second she did, she froze, eyes glowing and pink rings shooting up her ears. Slam knew the drill by now and stayed quiet, waiting patiently for her to fill him in.

The footsteps were heavy, but in a tired sense, not weight. The pace, gait, and drag threw her off as to identification, but she knew it wasn't Rev, Duck, or the General. There was a little squelch with each step, meaning that he was either walking right on the riverbank due to the lack of mud-making rain the past night, or he was soaking wet. It sounded as though he was right next to the river, so both were very possible. All-in-all, she felt safe enough to pull down her ears and creep forward to look down at who was below, Slam following behind.

At first, they couldn't see anything past the trees swaying in the light breeze. There were only a few small openings in the leaves to see the river, and none offered a view of their newfound company. It took a few minutes before either saw him, Slam pointing out the spot in the trees where he'd seen movement. A few more minutes passed before they saw him again, this time clear as day through a large gap.

Their reaction was instantaneous. They both straightened up, Lexi releasing her ears to support herself on her elbows while Slam scrambled to his feet, identical looks of startled disbelief etched on both of their faces. But there was no denying what, or rather, _who_ they had just seen. They spared a moment to give each other a glance, making sure the other was on the same page before darting downhill with excitement.

**xoxoxoxox**

Tech let out a large yawn, idly pushing a branch out of his path as he continued on his way. He was a little tired, but mostly suffering from extreme soreness, being chilled to the bone from the early morning cold, and still sopping wet from his dip in the river- fur and water didn't mix well. On top of that, he was sincerely worried, for Ace and everyone else. Day five...the hunters would be upping the ante. That was a given. They weren't going to let anyone go as easily as waiting for the clock to run out.

Of course, that's not to say the Loonatics wouldn't go without a fight.

Despite his worry, his logical side continuously pointed out that he had, in fact, drawn the hunter away from Ace, and Ace hadn't been the one struggling, so his odds were very good. Everyone else, though... Tech hadn't heard gunshots for days now. The coyote was only just realizing that that had been part of what was keeping his worry in check; shooting meant that there was something left to shoot at.

Tech growled in annoyance. His pessimistic thoughts weren't doing him any good, and the fact that he was tired, cold, and soaked to the bone weren't helping his mood any. It felt as though the wet squelch from each footfall could be heard for miles.

Even as the thought entered his mind, he heard someone's approach- the swishing of leaves, the rustling of foliage, the snap of branches. If _he_ heard it, that meant his pursuer was close.

Knowing he didn't have the energy to try his luck at outrunning his new company, he opted to hide. Climbing a tree fast enough to stay out of sight was out of the question, so he instead opted on hiding behind a trunk in a spot where he only needed to take one step and then he'd be in the river again. It meant he wouldn't be able to see his follower, but he figured it was worth it to avoid the risk of being shot at.

Not a minute later, he heard someone break through the foliage nearby and come to a stop practically right in front of him, on the other side of his tree. A few seconds later, he was alerted to the fact that there were two of them as another, much bigger sounding person crashed into the area. Both were breathing hard, and as far as he could tell, neither was moving. It became apparent why a moment later.

"Tech?"

His jaw dropped. That had been the last thing the coyote had expected to hear, especially considering the circumstances.

"He was just here..." the familiar voice continued. "He can't have gone far. Tech!"

"_Lexi_?" Tech replied in complete disbelief, stepping out from behind his tree to get a look at his teammates. "Slam, too?"

He was pleasantly surprised to see that they didn't look nearly as haggard as he felt. A little tired, maybe, but still in good condition. They definitely didn't look as though they'd been running for their lives for the past five days, that was for sure. However, Tech didn't get much of a look; seconds after coming out of hiding, his view was obstructed by a very overjoyed Tasmanian devil. He was then almost squished to a pulp as Slam wrapped him up in one of his trademark bear hugs, nonsensically babbling deliriously as he swung the coyote around. His joy was contagious, and Tech couldn't help but start laughing along with him- partly from his feeling of intense stupidity from automatically assuming they were a threat and never even thinking of any other possibility- as he ignored the crushing feeling in his ribcage and returned the hug.

"Wh-where did you two come from?" Tech asked as his laughter subsided and Slam finally put him down.

Lexi began to slowly approach as she spoke with a slight quaver in her voice. "We've been up on the ridge over there since we got here. We haven't seen or heard anyone this whole time. We-we were starting to... W-we thought... _Oh_!" she exclaimed, unable to hold back anymore as she threw herself at Tech, wrapping him up in a hug of her own as she held back tears of joy and relief. Tech patted her shoulder in comfort, returning the hug while she collected herself.

"Sorry, sorry," she said as she pulled away, turning around to discreetly wipe her eyes with a sleeve.

"Don't worry about it; I would've done it if you didn't," Tech replied teasingly, smirking at the disbelieving looks he got. "So are you two alright? No injuries, nothing?"

"Nuh-uh!" Slam replied jovially.

"We haven't seen any of the hunters at all," Lexi informed him, turning back to them. "Or, rather, they haven't seen us. We overheard them talking a couple of days ago, but they never realized we were there."

"And yet you've been staying in the same spot for this whole time?" Tech confirmed.

Lexi shrugged. "It was a good spot to watch and listen. We were actually starting to debate leaving for another spot when we saw you."

"Boy have you two had it easy," Tech said in mock-envy with a shake of his head. "I just got chased into a river and probably floated halfway across this island. And by 'just', I mean _'yesterday_.'"

"Physically easy, yes. Mentally, though..." Lexi said. "It wasn't easy, the not knowing if anyone else was okay. It got a little better after we overheard the General and the Lieutenant talking the other day, though."

"Did they say anything of interest?" Tech asked as he again attempted to wring some of the water from his clothing.

"Yeah, but remember- this news is two or three days old. They said that they hadn't gotten anyone as of then. The Major had seen Ace, the Lieutenant had it in for Rev and Duck, the Colonel had chased you, and they were harping over no one seeing Sive, Slam and I," Lexi listed, counting on her fingers to make sure she covered everyone.

"I don't think the Colonel was chasing me," Tech stated thoughtfully. "Yesterday was my first real chase with a hunter."

"It must have been Sive, then," Lexi said with a shrug. "Either way, no one was caught. Again, as of two days ago."

"I know Ace is alright," Tech informed them, watching their faces, Lexi's in particular, light up. He decided to ignore the niggling feeling of doubt in the back of his head for the time being. "I've been with him since day two, and we split up yesterday because I fell out of a tree at a bad time."

"I'm going to pretend like I know what that means," Lexi chirped cheerfully.

"Be happy you don't," Tech stated. "So, that still leaves Duck, Rev, and Sive- the three most difficult of our number to catch- unaccounted for, along with one lost bunny."

Lexi quirked her head. "When you put it that way, it doesn't sound nearly that bad."

"Good; that's what I was aiming for," Tech replied with a smirk, also feeling much more relieved with his new logic. "We should probably start moving. We have four more Loonatics to find, and staying in one place for too long really isn't that good of an idea."

"Worked fine for us," Lexi said smartly as she started walking away, in good spirits now that they had found one of their friends and knew of another's well-being.

"As I said; you got lucky," Tech retorted without malice, following behind Lexi with Slam pulling up the rear, leaving the once again quiet forest behind them.

**xoxoxoxox**

To put it simply, Ace was pissed off. He was once again alone in the jungle because Tech decided to, in the rabbit's humble opinion, be much more stupid than he really was and be a hero. Now he was worried for Tech on top of the five other still missing members of his team, and time was running out. Only two days left until the week was up, and God alone knew what would happen then.

The unknowns coupled with the worry was giving him a massive headache and further driving his all-out hatred of the four ex-army men after them, fueling his growing anger that didn't have an outlet. He would've loved nothing more than to go to town on a tree or two with his powers, but he couldn't see more than a yard in front of his face, even with his enhanced vision. A few hours ago, he had hidden in a patch of tall grass (as in, a few feet over his head) to avoid some dogs. The patch turned out to be more of a sea, and he was now hopelessly lost, sprinting around in, what with his luck, were probably circles trying to find an exit, or at least a tree tall enough for him to climb and see an end to the endless grass.

It wasn't helping his mood any.

It took him a few hours to find anything. Mercifully, he came across a clearing later on in the afternoon. The only thing was, from a few yards away as the grass grew sparser, he could see someone was already there. He assumed it was one of the hunters, given their ability to be in the worse possible place at the same time he was. By that point, however, he could care less, and was almost happy to find the other. No, Ace hadn't fallen off the deep end- he wanted answers. He wanted to know if his team was still alright. The hunters would know the answer to that. And at that point, he was furious enough to potentially beat the answers out of him.

Never breaking from his fast stride, he drew his Guardian Strike Sword from his belt, extending the blade as he took a flying leap at his unaware target with an animalistic shout. There was a surprised yelp in response to his sudden appearance, the other quickly spinning around to face him. By all means, the blunt side of his sword should have made painful contact with the other, but he kept moving and ended up tackling his smaller opponent. He didn't let it faze him, rolling with the impact, his adversary fighting him the whole way as they continued rolling. But, Ace was stronger and had size advantage, and he ended up quickly pinning his opponent, planting one hand on their chest and his knees on their hands to keep them in place while raising his sword close to their face. It was right then that he actually looked at whom he was attacking and realized something was off.

Too bad for him that his attackee didn't have the same realization.

**xoxoxoxox**

Sive wasn't one for surprises. In her long list of experiences, they were typically unpleasant, painful, and more startling than enjoyable. Suddenly being attacked by a sword-bearing someone leaping through some tall grass definitely fell under that category.

She used her powers to let the weapon phase through her, letting her cry of surprise escape in hopes it would alert the nearby Rev and Duck to their company. It was only as she spun around that she realized her attacker was about to plow right into her, though she still had enough time to brace herself for the impact. They rolled, fighting for the advantage even though Sive knew she wouldn't be able to overpower her larger opponent.

As expected, he came out on top, restraining her with ease, but Sive didn't give him a second. Using her powers, she sat up as though he weren't even there, unfazed by the blade moving through her head and doing a somersault, ending in a crouching position right behind him. She quickly spun, extending one hand to perform a cross-chop to the general head-and-neck area of her attacker, but he ducked and rolled just in time.

However, he evidently wasn't expecting her to throw a small ball of electricity at him, if his high-pitched yelp and sudden hit-the-deck movement to dodge were anything to go by. He scrambled to his feet as Sive shot another weak discharge in his direction. The speed she was moving at coupled with the intermittent bursts of light from her electricity made it difficult to see who she was shooting at, but considering how she'd been attacked first, she didn't particularly care about his identity at that time. She continued firing at him until he dove behind a tree, taking cover from her volley.

"Friendly fire! _Friendly fire! FRDIENDLY FIRE_!" a desperate voice called out, prompting Sive to cease firing, though she did remain in her defensive crouch. Rev and Duck also chose that moment to make their appearances, but stayed back, taking in the electrically-induced carnage and Sive's still wary position.

"You know," Sive began softly, never taking her eyes off of the offending tree, "for being able to teleport and run at hundreds of miles per hour, your reaction times are really slow."

"Sorry-we-got-distracted-and-ended-up-going-farther-away-than-we-thought-but-then-we-thought-we-heard-you-yell-so-we-started-heading-back-then-we-heard-explosions-so-we-hurried-and-here-we-are," Rev explained quickly, following Sive's gaze to look curiously at the tree. "What-are-you-looking-at?"

Sive didn't answer him, instead staring at the tree for another moment before straightening up. "Ollie ollie oxen free!" she called, drawing puzzled looks from Rev and Duck.

They quickly changed to disbelief as Ace hesitantly poked his head around the tree.

"What's da big idea, doc?" Ace asked indignantly, stepping out from behind the tree as he put his sword away.

"This from the guy who tried slicing me in half a moment ago," Sive retorted bluntly, never missing a beat and giving him the evil eye.

"Touché."

Ace looked as though he would've said more, but Rev chose that moment to break out of his shocked stupor and attack-hug him, actually picking him up and swinging him around while babbling at such a pace that no one could understand him. Duck and Sive laughed.

They let it go on for a couple of minutes before Sive intervened. "Okay, Rev, why don't you put him down before you break him in half?"

Upon hearing this, the roadrunner set Ace back on his feet with a sheepish look. "Sorry-I-got-excited-but-I'm-just-so-happy-to-see-you-because-you're-the-first-person-we've-seen-well-except-for-each-other-but-you-get-the-point."

"It's alright Rev; you guys have no idea how happy I am ta see all of ya alright!" Ace exclaimed jovially, taking the opportunity to return Rev's hug since he was too busy being squished before. However, he let go fairly quickly and turned Rev around to look at his back, eyeing his tattered shirt and injured back. "What happened ta you?"

"I-got-caught-in-a-net," Rev said simply by way of explanation.

"And I, of course, helped him out!" Duck interjected boldly, barging on scene.

"Last I checked, you had a target painted on your chest, and _I_ was the one who got him down," Sive corrected.

"Well, I kept the Lieutenant distracted!"

"All right, I'll give you that," Sive conceded.

"Either of you two hurt?" Ace asked, reassured that Rev wasn't that badly injured and relived to hear that they had escaped a bad situation.

Duck immediately struck one of his 'heroic poses'. "Of course not! No one can hurt _Danger Duck!_"

"…You okay, Sive?" Ace asked, accepting Duck's answer and moving on as always. He loved the return of normalcy, if it could be called that.

"I'm good," she said simply with a shrug. "So, how have you fared in the finding teammates and/or hunters department?"

"I've seen my fair share of da hunters, and I _was _with Tech for da past few days…"

The other three weren't immediately concerned only because of Ace's tone; it sounded like he was more annoyed with the coyote than worried for him, or heaven forbid, grieving.

"Is he alright?" Duck asked after a moment.

"I don't know. Since he regenerates, odds are, yes, he is, but I'm still worried," Ace admitted. "He drew off some hunters from us yesterday, even though I told him not ta, and now I have no idea what happened ta him. On top of dat, none of us have heard from Slam or Lexi at all."

"I'm sure Tech's alright," Sive reassured. "He's resourceful, too smart to get caught. As for Slam and Lexi, they're both smarter than we give them credit for, and they're each pretty good at not getting caught when they don't want to."

"Sorry to be Johnny Raincloud here, but _Slam_?" Duck asked.

"How many times have we gone to bed one night only to find the fridge completely empty the next morning?" Sive asked, completely serious and earning nods from the others. "They're alright."

Ace still didn't seem convinced. "I only wish I could share in your optimism, Sive."

Sive looked affronted. "Me? An optimist? Ha! Please, Ace, I am a _realist_." That earned her a quiet chuckle and a shake of the head from Ace.

"Well, we should probably get outta here," Ace stated, looking around. "Our little scuffle probably attracted some attention, and we still got three teammates to find and four hunters ta avoid."

"Three-hunters," Rev corrected as they started walking off in some random direction.

"Huh?"

"The-Lieutenant-is-stuck-in-a-hole-a-few-miles-southeast-of-here."

"And why is de Lieutenant in a hole?"

"No reason…" Sive said in mock-innocence.

Ace laughed. "You would, Sive."

"Of course I would. Plus, it worked out to our advantage."

"How so?"

"Our meddling coyote pilfered some kinda funky calculator from him," Duck interjected.

"It's-not-a-funky-calculator-it's-a-trap-monitor," Rev corrected, showing the oversized device to Ace. "He-was-setting-traps-all-over-the-island-and-Duck-and-I-were-setting-them-off-so-no-one-else-would-and-he-eventually-caught-up-to-us-with-a-cheap-trick-but-that's-when-Sive-saved-our-skins-and-we-took-this-that-way-if-anyone-sets-off-a-trap-we'll-know-about-it-and-can-get-to-them-first."

"Dat's brilliant!" Ace exclaimed, looking at the device as though it was the Holy Grail. "So all we gotta do is wait, right?"

"Essentially," Duck agreed.

Ace smiled. His luck was finally changing. Not only had he found another of his teammates alive and well, he had found _three_, and those three had a way to find the other three before the hunters did. On top of that, one of the hunters was already taken care of. Things were finally looking up.

**A/N: Okay, so next chapter will also probably be long, and I do hope to get it up within 2 weeks. But, this is finals week this week, and I have randomly assorted appointments with, like, **_**everyone**_** next week, so it's going to be a little iffy. The good news is that it will be a good one with a dose of action and mayhem, so it's something to look forward to!**

**And also, I just now realized just how many reviews this story has. Thanks to you all for making this story so popular and for keeping my spirits up and my muse working away, you're all such wonderful people and I absolutely love you all!**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Well, this one was certainly longer than I thought it would be… It was so long, I actually had to slice it in two to avoid making another 8k+ chapter. I hate doing that… Next part's up at the end of the week, and that's where the action really starts! The promised mayhem, however, begins in this one. It starts with a check-in on everyone's least favorite Englishman, followed by the bad stuff. Ace, Sive, Duck, and Rev won't show up until next chapter, what with the split, but the next one's where stuff starts getting good!**

**WARNING: Some violence. Nothing major, and not my usual fight-scene stuff, so I thought I should warn you. **

_Day 6_

It was dead silent in the woods. The clouds had lightened up, making it brighter, though the cover was still constant, but the wind was nonexistent, making it very hot and humid again. The group walking around a few miles away from anywhere added to the silence, not a word exchanged between them. Silence had reigned over them for the past couple of hours, ever since they ran out of options.

The previous day, Lexi, Slam, and Tech had been too excited about finding each other to really get anything done other than covering some ground. They had stopped in a secluded area near some downed trees for the night, both Slam and Lexi seeing that Tech needed to rest and letting (forcing) him to sleep. It had done a world of good for the overtaxed coyote, and the next morning he felt up to trying again to figure out a way to find the others, now with Slam and Lexi's help. Unfortunately, the same problems as before presented themselves, putting Tech down again; for being the smartest of the bunch and having the past six days to think on it, he still couldn't figure out a way to find the other four members of their team without also alerting the hunters.

Now all Tech could do was think endlessly about how to find the others and how completely useless he felt. It was an unending loop of misery. What's more, the same thought had been echoing through his head since morning; it was day 6. Ace's odds, considering how he'd been fine as of a day ago, were still pretty good. Duck, Rev, and Sive? Not so much. His only comfort was the fact that they would undoubtedly be the top three of their number to give the hunters hell by being difficult to catch. However, they were also very likely to literally give the hunters hell, purposely getting on the ex-army men's nerves and putting themselves in danger. Tech could only hope that they had found each other as he had found Ace, then Slam and Lexi. For the sake of Ace's fragile mentality, he hoped that their overly-worried leader had found someone else as well.

So caught up in his musings, Tech didn't realize that Slam and Lexi had stopped moving until he walked into Slam's back. He gave a questioning look to the back of the Tasmanian devil's head, then followed Slam's gaze to Lexi, who was intently focusing on her hearing. The coyote gave a quick, cursory look around the area, but saw nothing.

He gave her a few moments to listen before quietly asking, "What's up?"

"...Call me crazy, but I think it's the Lieutenant," she replied after a moment, uncertainty lacing her voice.

"The only crazy thing about that is that we're not already heading in the opposite direction," Tech replied sarcastically.

"No, the weird part is that he's calling for help, and I can tell he's below ground level- in a cave or crevice or something."

"Okay, that _is_odd..." Tech took a moment to think it over, but came up blank. There was no reasonable explanation for it, aside the given option of being a trap.

Lexi stopped focusing on her hearing, turning back to Tech and Slam. "Should we check it out, or blow him off?"

"It could be a trap," Tech stated, thoroughly thinking it over, "but if it isn't, we could probably get something good out of it."

"Such as?"

Tech shrugged. "News of the others, what their plans are, etcetera. Besides, even if it is a trap, we could probably just screw it up for him and still get that stuff out of him."

"Do you really think he would tell us anything?" Lexi asked skeptically, turning her head as she tried to pinpoint the location of the sound in the confusing cacophony echoing around the trees.

"I don't know, but Slam here can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be," Tech answered, only party serious, gesturing to their larger companion with one thumb. Slam enthusiastically agreed, pounding one fist into his palm for emphasis and prompting a little giggle from Lexi.

"Whatever you say, Tech," she conceded before turning and pointing. "Okay, I think he's in this general direction, somewhere within one-half and one-quarter mile away."

"That leaves a lot of ground to cover," Tech observed, starting to walk off in the direction Lexi indicated.

"Try having super hearing with all these trees around! It's very confusing! Besides, I'll be able to hear him more clearly once we get closer."

"Alright, but until then, we should stay quiet. Let's make sure we get the drop on him and not the other way around."

They continued in silence, moving as quietly as possible through the foliage. Lexi led them on, focusing intently on her hearing while Slam and Tech focused more on their surroundings, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious or out of place. About 15 minutes and a few u-turns later, they were close enough that Tech and Slam could also hear the short hunter's intermittent cries for help. Tech gave the motion to fan out, letting them creep up from multiple angles.

Lexi was first to reach the clearing, peering out from underneath a leafy plant to get the lay of the land. She saw two devices in the ground, both with piercing red lights. Quickly deciding to leave those to Tech, she moved on to focus on the empty wire net hanging from a tree, confused at its presence though thankful it was empty. Lastly, she came to the large hole in the ground, a discarded crossbow lying in the grass nearby.

Stepping out of her cover, she was soon met by Tech. He came up to closely inspect the net, giving it a sniff with his sensitive canine nose and giving a low growl. He then shot an accusatory look at the hole, staying back and motioning for Slam, who was across the clearing, to do the same as Lexi cautiously approached it. They were opting to give Lexi backup if needed so as not to alert the Lieutenant to his newfound company rather than all three of them charging into a potential trap.

They needn't have bothered.

"Hello?" the Lieutenant called, his voice echoing out from the hole in the ground. "Tomson, is that you? MacIntosh? Von Twofreefuhr? _Anyone_?"

"You'll have to go with 'anyone'," Lexi replied humorlessly, peering over the edge to look into the hole and down onto the Lieutenant.

The Lieutenant jumped, his head snapping up and dislodging his hat and glasses. He had to retrieve the latter before replying. "AH! You! Where did _you_come from?"

"From your perspective, the general upward direction," Tech interjected, making his own appearance.

"More of you!" the Englishman exclaimed, whirling around to look at Tech.

"Hi!" Slam called down, prompting the Lieutenant to jump and spin once more.

"Bloody hell! Where are all you buggers coming from?"

"Don't worry; it's just the three of us," Lexi informed him. "Of course, that's not really a good thing for you either way, now is it?"

"Oh, do save it. I've already been threatened by your buddies," the short Brit huffed as he sat down on the ground. "You know, for being the good guys, you're pretty low."

"Oh, yeah, because we're the ones evidently setting traps to catch our unaware opponents," Tech growled, jerking his head in the general directions of the net trap and the two sensors on the ground.

The Lieutenant shrunk back as much as he could from his position, losing the attitude gained from trapped frustration and reverting back to cowardice at the murderous look from the coyote. He had thought that they wouldn't do anything to hurt him, being the good guys and all, but right then he wasn't so sure. "I, uh, w-w-w-well- I mean, th-that is-"

"Here's what's going to happen," Tech interrupted, no-nonsense attitude firmly in place. "You're going to start talking, and you're going to tell us what happened here, and why I can smell Rev on that net."

Lexi and Slam shot him startled looks, now realizing why the normally mild-mannered coyote was so ticked off. Well, 'ticked off' seemed to be an understatement; based on the look Tech was giving the Lieutenant, if he didn't like the European's answer, he looked as though he'd jump into the hole and throttle him.

The Lieutenant picked up on this, and was quick to supply an answer. "N-n-no! No no no no no no! You've got it all wrong, see? I never touched them!"

"'Them'?" Lexi repeated, her tone a scary calm.

"Y-yes! Th-th-the duck was there, too, but it was the road- er, Rev who got caught in the trap!" he quickly supplied. "The d-duck was staying t-t-to defend R-Rev."

"I'm assuming the crossbow over here is yours," Tech speculated, "and I can't help but notice that it's still loaded. So, you _didn't_hurt them?"

"N-no, of course not! Wh-why on Earth would I-" The diminutive Brit promptly stopped that sentence upon hearing Tech's growl. "O-okay, so I would've, b-but th-then...oh, w-well, the other coyote showed up a-a-and, well..."

It almost seemed as though he were embarrassed. That, or something happened that he _really_didn't want them to know about.

"What. Happened?" Lexi ground out, borderline growling. But, being a bunny, it wasn't possible. Both Slam and Tech, however, supplied threatening growls for her, making the Lieutenant shrink away again. He didn't want to tick any of them off at that point; the Tasmanian devil was just big and threatening, and at the mention of the other coyote, the bunny's eyes flashed threateningly, reminding him of the fact that she could fire telekinetic blasts and he was a sitting duck in a hole. At the same time, if he had used 'murderous' to describe Tech before, he had no idea what word to use now- nothing seemed expressive enough.

This prompted him to quickly shout out the end of the story. "She snuck up on me, threatened me, and shoved me into this hole, okay?"

Instantly the looks of evil intent vanished in favor of surprise; that hadn't been what the three Loonatics were expecting. Their surprise lasted all of three seconds before they all boisterously laughed at the Lieutenant's expense.

"That sounds like something Sive would do," Lexi stated cheerily as her laughter subsided.

"Yes, yes, I know it's very funny and all," the Lieutenant interrupted, frustration returning as his cowardice abated with the Loonatic's malice, "but would you get me out of here?"

"Why should we?" Tech asked, even though he knew that there could be several good reasons why to get him out of there that would lead to them getting him out. Of course, after figuring out what to do with him and/or extracting whatever other information they wanted from him.

"Because I've been stuck down here for _two days!" _he screeched, ripping his hat off in annoyance. "I'm getting absolutely sick of eating nothing but power bars, and if I didn't carry bottled water with me, I'd be _dead!"_

"First of all, that just made my day," Tech stated matter-of-factly over Lexi and Slam's renewed laughter, struggling to keep his own reigned in though doing a good job of hiding it. "Second of all, it takes, at the very least, three days to die of dehydration outside of desert conditions. Thirdly, have fun down there." And with that, the smug coyote stood up and walked away, still giggling Slam and Lexi in tow.

"Wait!" the Lieutenant called desperately. "You can't just leave me down here!"

"Wanna bet?" Lexi called, not breaking stride or looking back as she and Slam started to head away from the clearing.

Tech, however, seemed to have other ideas, diverting from their path and inspecting the crossbow for a moment before bending over and picking it up. "Especially in a situation like this, you never know," he said by way of explanation, strapping it over his shoulder and continuing after Slam and Lexi, leaving the Lieutenant without a second thought.

"Where are you going? Hold on!" the Lieutenant shouted, unaware that the three Loonatics were already out of hearing range, save Lexi, who was wisely ignoring him. "You three aren't seriously leaving me down here, are you? Hello? Why don't we just talk this over? Hello?"

**xoxoxoxox**

An hour later saw the trio happily going about their way through the jungle yet again, this time with lighter spirits. Ace's well-being was practically a guarantee; now that they knew this was also true for the remaining members of their team, they could hardly contain their joy. Lexi had unleashed another round of happy tears once the humor of the Lieutenant's situation abated, Slam couldn't stop grinning, and even the usually fairly stoic Tech had a small smile playing about his face. They were still staying quiet, for their own safety if nothing else, but their elation was still evident to each other. There was still the glaring issue of _finding _the other four members of their team, but that didn't seem to be bothering them at that moment. Right then, they were too distracted by their joy to think of anything else.

This became startlingly apparent when the ever-vigilant Tech didn't watch where he was going and stepped right between the laser-trip system of two sensors. He heard the beep, and though he didn't see the main sensors change to red, he could see a blue light go off out of the corner of his eye and something else start to move.

He didn't have time to think, only to react. "Hit the deck!" he shouted, reaching out and grabbing Lexi's shoulder, pulling her down with him as she let out a frightened shriek. Slam was far enough away to only have to sidestep to avoid the sprung trap, watching in horror as the previously drawn-back tree branch snapped forward with enough force to seemingly slice through someone. The Tasmanian devil only minutely relaxed as he saw that it travelled harmlessly over his friends on the ground, emitting a whip-like noise as it did so.

Well, almost harmlessly. Both of their ears were clipped, their pained yelps drowned out by the whip of the branch as they quickly drew their ears down and held them close to their heads until the branch stopped moving. Lexi's ears in particular were ringing, both from the report of the branch and the blow to the sensitive appendages, throwing off her hearing even more in the already troublesome environment.

"Wow," Lexi squeaked, tentatively looking up at the branch as if to make sure it wouldn't attack them again.

"'Wow' nothing!" Tech snapped as he scrambled to his feet, angry with himself for not noticing it before stepping on it. "That was a snap trap- essentially a glorified, oversized, and in this case overly-_powerful_ mouse trap."

"More like _bunny_ trap…" Lexi grumbled as she, too, got to her feet, though more slowly than her canine companion. She watched as Tech used his magnetism on the secondary trigger, ripping it off the tree and flinging it away, ensuring it wouldn't be reset. He then took a moment to collect himself before turning back to Slam and Lexi.

"Are you two okay?" the coyote asked calmly, idly brushing off his shirt and pants.

Slam gave him two thumbs up in response while Lexi pulled her ears down, inspecting them for any permanent damage. "Nothing an ice pack wouldn't fix. You?"

"I regenerate, remember?" Tech asked good humouredly. "Even if that thing had cut me in two, I'd still be alright."

"Can't help but worry." Satisfied with her inspection, though her hearing was still ringing, the bunny let go of her ears and also brushed off her uniform, casting Tech a furtive glance just to make sure he really was okay.

Slam was also not-so-secretly checking over his two teammates for any injuries, thoroughly shaken after their previous good mood was shattered. He'd had just about enough of the sudden shocks already, and he and Lexi hadn't even met one of the hunters proper as of then! As it was, this was their first encounter with a trap that didn't have a Lieutenant stuck in it.

Lexi watched as Tech prowled around for a moment, stopping once he found the laser-trigger. "Hold this for a minute," he said, unstrapping the crossbow and handing it to Slam. He then bent down to inspect the sensor, using his magnetism to rip it out of the ground and start taking it apart at one point. The other two Loonatics watched with interest as he quickly gutted the little machine, seemingly not analyzing it at all as he quickly disassembled it.

"Well, that's odd," he murmured after a moment, going back to one particular piece that looked like a miniscule flashlight and closely inspecting it.

"What is it?" Lexi asked, peering over his shoulder at the small part.

"This part should transmit a signal to something that alerts it that the trap went off, but if the Lieutenant was the one manning the traps, then where's the device?" he asked rhetorically, putting the piece back down with the others and inspecting it as a whole. "He would've had it with him for quick reaction time to a trap going off, wherever he was, but there wasn't anything like that with him."

"Heaven forbid that one of the other hunters has one," Lexi moaned.

"The signal this would emit is only strong enough to be detected by one device, and he doesn't seem like the type to loan it out," Tech speculated. "I'm kind of hoping that Rev recognized it for what it was and took it with him…"

At those words, Lexi came to a happy conclusion. "If he did, then wouldn't he have seen this one go off?"

Tech stood up and scanned the area in front of him. "Let's hope. If he did, let's hope they get here before-"

He didn't get a chance to finish that sentence, because the very thing he'd hoped _not_ to see showed up at that moment and took a potshot at them, thankfully missing and hitting a nearby tree. The Colonel cursed his luck and quickly reached into a pocket of his jacket for his glasses, quickly reloading his older-style weapon as the Major overtook him and the General quickly caught up.

The deadline being so close and coming closer, they had decided to team up for the day. The Lieutenant was still strangely missing, and yet it wouldn't have been the first time the short Brit decided to camp out to get the quicker kills, so they had thought nothing of it. Unfortunately for their diminutive comrade, they had approached from the opposite direction as the Loonatics, missing his hole completely. They had heard the trap go off and the shouts from the Loonatics, and had immediately come running.

With Lexi's ears on the fritz, the three Loonatics only early warning was the fortunate missed-shot. Without exchanging another word, the three Loonatics took off into the trees, intent on losing their new company as fast as possible. However, the hunters were practically on top of them already, and seemed to be saving their shots instead of haphazardly firing into the trees as they had before.

Slam went wide from the other two, intent on going for the heavier cover to hide his much larger physique. The trees took the shots meant for him as the General broke off from the other two and took off after him. Lexi ran on her toes, crouching close to the ground to cover herself even more as she darted between the foliage. The Colonel couldn't keep up with her, and any shots he tried firing at her were considerable misses. Tech, not being as fast as the agile bunny, took a page from Slam's book and weaved through the trees, confusing the Major with his sudden twists and turns as he disappeared again and again from the line of fire. They crossed each other's paths occasionally, but didn't seem to get much farther away from the hunters. Even though the Loonatic's were faster than them, their weaving paths didn't lead to much ground cover. They were doing well at avoiding getting hit.

It all went rapidly downhill from there.

At one point, Tech and Lexi crossed each other, Tech going one way and Lexi the other. Lexi was a few feet in front of Tech, and ended up getting across the small gap in the trees just before Tech did- which is why the shot meant for her hit him instead.

One second he was running, and the next he had no idea what had happened. It felt like an explosion had gone off, impacting with enough force to send him flying sideways as a dozen bee bees from the buckshot planted themselves into his back. The pain was excruciating; he couldn't feel anything else but the burn from his back, the broken ribs from the impacts, the massive internal bleeding from ruptured organs. He couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't _breathe_. It wasn't the first time he had felt something like that, and with his line of work, it wouldn't be the last.

That's why he wasn't surprised when everything went black, and all was still.

**A/N: For such a suspenseful story, I'm fairly certain that this is my first cliffhanger. XD Blame my overly-wordy brain. The good news is, the next chapter should be just about as long as this one and contain action! Lots of it! The next one is the crux of the story, so don't miss it!**

**I really should tell you guys how much I love you more! The review count for last chapter definitely broke some record somewhere! You are all my most favorite people in the world, and your words make mine come faster, so please review!**

**P.S. You guys and I got lucky. I uploaded this to the Doc Manager, and right after the power went out! XD I'm currently posting this from our cruddy laptop with the 4G wifi card!**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Considering how long this chapter ended up being, I think being one day late is fantastic. Plus, I lost data on this thing twice- more than half of it was gone total, one from the power outage last week and the other from an iPhone uh-oh. Good news for you guys, but annoying for me, having to rewrite parts of this twice. I really need to invest in a laptop… **

**More bad news- I had to slice this one in two AGAIN. It ended up being more than 2k words longer than I thought it would be, and I still wasn't done yet, so sliced it became. **

**Anywho, this chapter does contain all seven Loonatics! (Finally.) There's some action (my usual brand,) some more action (not necessarily my usual brand,) some mild depictions of gore (very, very, mild, rated PG-13 at the worst,) and I have set a new record for fluffiness. Acexi fans, you will be happy! **

_Day 5 cont._

It had been a quiet afternoon. They had heard nothing, seen nothing- no sign of anything unpleasant that may have wished them harm. It was the safest they had felt all week- which was the only reason why Rev, Duck, and Sive were able to convince the exhausted Ace to take a break. That had been near dawn, and the bunny had slept clear through the afternoon. Rev, Duck, and Sive had alternated resting, monitoring the trap-detector, and sentry duty since that time. Barely a word was exchanged, the three preferring to enjoy the calm.

This was why all four of them were startled by the loud alarm when it went off late in the afternoon. Duck almost dropped it, he was so surprised, haphazardly juggling it for a moment before Rev snatched it from him.

"That thing is _loud_," Sive said, agilely jumping down from her lookout perch up a tree.

"Yeah, but you weren't sittin' right next ta it," Ace grumbled, tiredly wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Talk about a rude awakening!"

It took Rev a couple of minutes to pull up the map on the screen, not being completely familiar with the technology. "Okay-so-the-trap-is-a-little-over-a-mile-northeast-of-here."

"Why don't you and Duck go on ahead?" Ace suggested, standing up and stretching. "Sive and I'll catch up."

"Alright-but-you-take-the-map," Rev insisted, handing Ace the device before rocketing away, Duck quacking off after him not long after.

At first, Sive followed behind Ace, but once she had the general direction down, she utilized her full speed, overtaking the bunny and rapidly pulling ahead. It only took her a few minutes to run the mile, but at that point, she started hearing gunshots from the east. Making an executive decision, she headed that way, meeting up with Ace who, alarmed by the gunshots, had begun to travel via the trees again, allowing him to match speeds with the fast coyote.

It wasn't too long later that they came upon two of the hunters- the General and the Colonel. Rev and Duck were already there, thoroughly distracting them. Rev would dive bomb them from the air, drawing their attentions, while Duck would suddenly pop in, sometimes throwing eggs and other times just shouting and surprising them. Whoever the two hunters had been chasing was long gone.

Rev saw Ace and Sive arrive, so he let Duck continue with the distractions while he flew down to them to quickly give them the lay of the land. "As-far-as-we-can-tell-these-guys-found-whoever-set-off-the-trap-and-chased-them-and-they-went-on-ahead-while-we-distracted-the-hunters-and-the-Major-is-behind-us-a-bit-but-I-can't-tell-what-he's-doing-because-I-can-only-see-glimpses-of-him-through-the-trees."

Ace, being the great leader that he was, immediately took charge, quickly processing the information and coming up with a plan of action. "Alright, Rev, I want you ta go catch up ta whoever dese two were chasin'. Accordin' to da map, dere's a ravine or somethin' to da south. We'll meet up dere."

"I-am-SO-on-it-Ace!" Rev exclaimed, taking off back into the air.

"Sive," Ace began, turning to her, "you go figure out what da Major's up to. If it's nothin', stay outta sight and head for da ravine. I'm gonna go help Duck!"

"You got it, chief!" Sive replied, dashing off in the indicated direction.

She didn't have to look very hard; she simply followed the debris left behind from the firefight. It was a long trail to follow made up of destroyed trees and trampled plants, though she knew something was horribly wrong when she found a sizeable spatter of what appeared to be blood on the ground. Her sensitive canine nose confirmed it, the unique pungent scent permeating the air. It trailed off further into the foliage, as though someone had been dragged or thrown through the undergrowth. The trail disappeared behind some damaged bushes. Sive cautiously approached, crouching low to the ground to stay out of sight as she tentatively peered through the bushes, hoping that her worst fears were wrong.

At first, all she could see was the Major. He was standing fairly still, shotgun drawn but pointed at the ground and standing close enough that she couldn't see past him. His attention was fully focused on something in front of him that she couldn't see, though she could smell a lot more blood. She opted to stay put until she saw what had his attention; as much as she would've loved to screw over another one of the hunters, Ace had been right to tell her to leave if he wasn't up to anything.

A few moments passed before he moved, slowly walking around to scan the object of his attentions from another angle. His movement gave Sive a view of what he was looking at, or rather, _who_. She froze in shock, actually holding her breath for a moment as she felt a chill in the afternoon heat.

She made the same thoughts keep running through her head_- he can regenerate, he can regenerate, he'll be okay_- but it didn't make the scene any less difficult to look at.

Tech was lying on the ground in an awkward position, blood rapidly pooling beneath him. His back was facing upward, plainly displaying the awful injury through his tattered shirt. The massive bleeding hid the actual wounds from view, and Sive didn't know whether to count that as a good or bad thing. He wasn't moving and didn't seem to be breathing, and if she hadn't seen him regenerate after being completely incinerated from many lab-related incidents, Sive would've been panicking. Even so, it didn't make the sight any easier to swallow.

The Major evidently knew Tech could regenerate as well, hence why he was hanging around with his weapon still drawn. Sive knew it would take Tech a little while to regenerate, as it usually did, and they couldn't afford to wait there; Ace and Duck couldn't keep the Colonel and General busy for forever, and they'd have to ditch the Texan sooner than later. She'd deal with the Major first, and then get Tech out of there before the other two hunters inevitably showed up.

A few more moments passed as she waited for the Major to show her his back again. He stood still as he had before for another minute, before turning and moving. She took the opportunity, using her powers to silently phase through the bush and charge him.

The Major only realized she was there after it was too late. He turned, raising his gun to shoot at her, but the long-barreled weapon took a split second too long to maneuver. Sive grabbed the muzzle and manually pushed it away, sending a weak jolt of electricity through it as she did so, preventing him from firing the weapon which would have resulted in a serious burn to her hand. The jolt travelled up the metal of the weapon and into the Major's hands, making him yelp and quickly release the gun. He took a quick backward step as Sive used the shotgun to her advantage, keeping her hold on the barrel to swing the stock back at him like a baseball bat. She missed and, not holding the center point of the heavy weapon, lost her grip, causing the shotgun to go flying into the underbrush.

The Major wasn't going to give in that easily, nor play fair so long as he still had hidden cards up his sleeve, or rather, a hunting knife in his boot. In one fluid movement, the Texan kicked up his foot, drew the blade, and used the momentum of his movement to lunge at the coyote. He had been expecting her to dodge to the side, allowing him to easily trip her so he could spin back around and use the knife to quickly end the fight, and get another Loonatic out of it.

However, Sive had other ideas, leaping straight for him and allowing the blade and his entire arm to pass through her chest so she could end up behind him. As she phased, she grabbed his arm and took it with her, turning the tables and tripping _him_ up. She quickly grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm painfully behind his back. He cried out as his feet fell out from underneath him and he found all his weight on one arm, quickly dropping the knife in his bid to free himself. Thinking fast, he used his free hand to send a fist flying backwards at the troublesome coyote. Sive ducked in time to avoid it, releasing his other arm at the same time. His attempt was so forceful, he continued to twist with it, exposing his front to Sive.

She leapt at the opportunity, beginning to spin in place to lash out at him with a series of quick hits. She began with a jump kick to begin a fast spin and to be able to hit under his chin, causing his head to snap back. On the next turn, she delivered a punishing roundhouse kick to his chest, making him double over. This put him at the perfect height for her to cross-chop him upside the head her next time around. He straightened up to get his face out of firing range, though this opened him up for a snap kick to the stomach, making him double over again, this time winded. Sive followed by forcing the heel of her palm into his nose, most likely breaking it.

While beating on the Major was fun and all, none of the injuries she had caused would prevent him from chasing after her and Tech when they fled the scene. While having a broken nose and bruised ribs were painful, they weren't debilitating, and since she'd be lugging Tech, Sive wouldn't be breaking any speed records. At that point, she really wished she was dealing with one of the older hunters; while they were bigger, they were easier to deal with due to their age. But of course, she was stuck with the youngest army vet...

And then she remembered just _why_ he had retired, but didn't have time to feel stupid- she acted.

She continued her spin for one more kick, taking the opportunity seeing as the Texan was still reeling from the injury to his nose. As she came around again, he began to reach for her, intending to roll with the last hit and simply tackle her. His movement immediately stopped as she delivered her kick to his bad knee.

It gave out, making him fall to the ground with an agonized scream. Sive didn't spare him another moment of her time, instead bolting over to Tech. With all the added noise from the Major, her time had been cut in half, and she still had to get Tech out of there.

The bleeding from Tech's wounds had slowed during the short fight, which would leave less of a trail to follow. Unfortunately, it meant that he was still quite literally dead weight. He being both taller and heavier than Sive wasn't going to make anything easier. However, she didn't let that stop her, or rather, didn't have _time_ to let it stop her. She bent down, grabbed his wrists, and pulled him up onto her back into a quasi-piggyback before running off in the general direction of the ravine Ace had designated as their meeting place. Tech's feet were still dragging behind her, but it was the only way for her to carry him while traveling at any speed.

Sive wasn't remarkably strong, so it was surprising to see how far she made it before her protesting legs and back forced her to stop. She changed course slightly so she could end up near a bend in the river, not knowing how much of a mess she'd be after carrying Tech. Plus, it would serve as a potential easy escape.

After gently setting Tech down on his side, being careful not to get his wounds dirty, Sive collapsed on the ground next to him, taking time to catch her breath and allow her aching legs to rest. Unless the hunters somehow managed to follow her expertly taken path, she planned to stay there until Tech could walk under his own power- there was no way she could carry him again.

Once she felt like she could move without much protest from her sore limbs, she sat up and shuffled her way over to Tech, taking a closer look at his injuries. The bleeding hadn't changed much, no doubt needing to re-heal after the jerky transit pulling on the wounds. But, even as she watched, the flow slowed to almost a stop, a faint green glow emanating from one spot, then two, until about a dozen little green spots appeared on his back like polka-dots, giving a sign that his regenerative powers were doing their job.

Content that he was, or at least, would be alright, Sive sat back down and inspected herself for any injuries or other unpleasantries. Apart from the occasional scratch and bruise from the jungle travel and occasional hunter tangle, she was unharmed. Tired, sore, anxious, and in desperate need of a shower and a change of clothes, but relatively unharmed. She hoped everyone else was the same.

**xoxoxoxox**

Their job was way too easy.

Duck would pop up, drawing the hunters' attention to himself while giving Ace the opportunity to peek out from his hiding spot. The bunny would then fire off a powerful laser blast at a tree nearby the two hunters, typically making it topple over in the unfortunate army vets' general direction. They would then retreat a good distance before restarting the process, sometimes with a little extra push when needed, provided by a potentially deadly egg thrown a little too close for comfort.

They had covered a lot of ground in the short time since Ace had arrived, being careful to keep the hunters moving in the same direction. They were driving them away from their targeted ravine, keeping their 'home base' safe. The two Loonatics were also making sure to keep them from heading anywhere near Sive or Rev, giving their teammates as much time as they could. Forcing the hunters to retreat was the optimal plan, but if worse came to worse, they would improvise.

After the hunters dodged another tree and before Ace went after them, Duck appeared in the bunny's current hiding spot behind a large felled tree. The exhausted mallard was supporting himself with his hands on his knees, breathing hard from exertion.

"I can't...keep this up...for much longer," Duck said between gasps for breath, shaking his head. "We need...to plan...our getaway."

"Right," Ace agreed. He wasn't going to say it, but all his blasting was starting to give him a headache. "Distract 'em once more for me, den hightail it outta here to da ravine. I'll make sure day don't follow and meet ya dere."

"Whatever you say," Duck said as he regained his breath, straightening up and quacking out. Ace dashed out after him, diving into some bushes practically right next to where the hunters were poorly attempting to conceal themselves in the trees- the Colonel and General were about as hard to hide as Slam.

Ace waited patiently, and a moment later, Duck made his presence known, suddenly appearing atop a tree stump and firing off an egg at the hunters, who started running away again as it exploded in an interesting shower of sparks behind them. The second the flash ended, Ace stood up and immediately fired a laser directly at the hunters. They ducked behind a tree, but this time, the bunny didn't stop, following them with the beam for as long as he could hold it before abruptly stopping and running towards the ravine.

Once he was part of the way there, he stopped, quickly jumping up and climbing into a tree. There, he waited, making sure the two hunters, or the Major, didn't make reappearance. He also needed to rest his eyes for a moment, but making sure he wasn't being tailed was at the forefront of his mind. He was only satisfied after more than ten minutes of no activity, dropping down and quickly running toward his destination.

It had been further away than he had thought, but he made good time. It was more of an old, dried up river bed than a ravine. The river that had flowed there at some point had been very wide and very deep, making it almost a canyon. The area lining the once-river may have been lush and green at one point, but it was now very dry, only sparse grass and dirt covering anything within fifteen feet of the edge, giving a clearing for the Loonatics to rest in.

Ace broke through the trees and barely caught a glimpse of Rev, Slam, and Duck. The next thing he knew, he was receiving a hug that rivaled one of Slam's and being kissed fervently. It was certainly a shock for him, but once he recognized Lexi's very welcome, very pretty face in front of his, he returned the kiss with equal passion, embracing her even tighter than she was him.

"Eww, get a room!" Duck called with disgust. He was promptly smacked upside the head and shushed by Rev. The bunnies would have been grateful, hadn't they been too occupied to notice.

Eventually they pulled apart, bit only the minimal distance required to breathe. "What kept you?" Lexi asked, speaking so softly that only Ace could hear. "I was worried."

"Had ta make sure I wasn't bein' tailed," Ace said tersely, too distracted by Lexi's sudden presence to say more. She was certainly a sight for sore eyes; despite the disheveled appearance and tousled hair, a widely contrasting comparison to her usual well-kept looks, he couldn't remember her ever being more beautiful to his eyes. He simply couldn't stop looking at her until the fact that she was _there, _that she was _okay_ set in. They both seemed to be completely oblivious to their audience, who were giving them all the time they needed.

"Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?" she asked, just as softly as before.

"I'm fine," he replied. "And you? Are you alright?"

"They couldn't touch me." She gave him a soft smile, and at first, Ace was slightly perplexed by this. It took him a moment to remember why he had been expecting a less-than-amicable reception from Lexi upon finding her.

"Lex," Ace began, trying to keep control of himself and failing miserably, "I'm so sorry. I should've listened to ya when ya said somethin' was off, and I didn't, and den dis happened, and-"

Lexi cut off the quickly forming ramble with another kiss. "You were right to be judicious in pointing fingers, it's okay. I'm just- I'm just glad you're alive."

She broke into tears with these last words, burying her face into his shoulder. He held her, gently rubbing her back and whispering sweet nothings into her ear until she calmed down.

It took a few minutes, but she did eventually pull away, using her sleeve to dry her eyes and still sniffling a bit. "I'm okay, I'm okay...but I shouldn't hog you; I'm not the only one wanting to say hello."

"Hm?" Ace looked away from Lexi for the first time since arriving, only just now noticing Rev, Duck, and Slam, the last of whom eagerly awaiting his attention. "Ah, I see. Ya may wanna take a few steps back, Lex."

With one last parting peck on the cheek, Lexi did as Ace advised, allowing him to turn to the Tasmanian devil. "Alright, Slam, your turn!"

The big lug didn't waste a second, running up and lifting Ace into the air in a crushing hug, babbling incoherently all the while. Ace couldn't help but laugh, only just realizing how much he'd needed something as simple as a hug. Ace could only handle the crushing embrace for so long, though, and it was only a few minutes later that he politely asked (gasped) to be put down.

"So, what kept you, Ace?" Duck asked once they had all settled down again. "I beat you here by almost twenty minutes."

"What, were ya worried 'bout me?" Ace asked jokingly, receiving a withering look from Duck. "Nah, I'm alright, but I had ta make sure we weren't bein' followed. No use havin' a meetin' spot if da hunters know 'bout it, too. Are da rest of ya okay?"

"Rev and I are just fine," Duck answered for both of them. "Just don't expect me to move anytime soon- I'm bushed."

"Me and Slam are okay, too, thanks to you guys," Lexi replied. "I thought our luck had run out."

"Anytime-guys-we-were-in-the-area-anyways-plus-we-saw-that-you'd-set-off-a-trap-on-a-detection-device-we'd-pilfered-from-the-Lieutenant," Rev explained, producing the trap detector and showing it to Slam and Lexi.

"Oh, yeah, we ran into him," Lexi informed them, giggling a little at the memory.

"Was he still in the hole?" Duck asked.

"Yep."

"Good riddance. That despicable little twerp got what coming to him."

"Wait a sec..." Ace started, looking around at their little group. "Speakin' of da bamboozled Brit, where's Sive? I figured she'd have been foist one here."

"Tech's not here either," Lexi observed worriedly. "I thought he was right behind me..."

"Tech's with ya, too?" Ace asked, surprised. "Good. Dat means all of us are accounted for, and I still need ta give him a piece of my mind."

"The smart-aleck was with you, yet you still managed to spring a trap?" Duck asked snootily, earning glares from all present.

Lexi jumped to her feet. "We have to find them! What if they got caught by the hunters or something?"

"Hang on, Lex," Ace interjected, also getting to his feet. "Da hunters are still out dere; we can't risk goin' lookin' for 'em just yet."

"We can't just leave them either!"

"You're forgetting something important here," Duck interjected, not getting up from his spot and looking altogether bored with the conversation. "The two we're talking about here are Mr. I-can't-die-no-matter-what and Ms. Catch-me-if-you-can. They're the last two we have to worry about."

"…It's-weird-to-say-but-Duck-has-a-point," Rev agreed after thinking it over for a minute. "They're-probaly-either-laying-low-or-doing-like-Ace-did-and-making-sure-they-won't-be-followed."

"See, Lex?" Ace asked. "Nothin' ta worry about. Let's just give 'em some time before we start lookin' for 'em."

She still didn't seem fully convinced, but sat down next to Ace again anyway. They were so close to being home free- the last thing her fragile mentality needed was for something to go wrong now.

"If-it-will-make-you-feel-any-better," Rev piped up, "I-can-take-a-look-around-for-them-because-if-the-hunters-see-me-so-long-as-I-stay-on-the-ground-I-can-be-out-of-there-in-a-flash-before-they-can-even-start-shooting."

"Dat might not be dat bad of an idea," Ace conceded. "Just stay away from flyin' and if ya see a hunter, don't go near 'em!"

"Got-it-boss!" Rev exclaimed before taking off again into the forest of unknowns.

**A/N: So, that's part 2 of this incredibly long portion of the story… Considering how it's the crux of the plot, I suppose I should've expected it to be longer than I had thought, but even so. This is helping me figure out how long my next couple of finale-chapters should be. Barring any more extremely long chapters, there's only 4 left until the end! Next one's up at the end of this week!**

**The highlight of my week is always hearing from all of my favorite people on FFN, and I often look to reviews as a little push to get myself working again, so please tell me what you think! (I would especially love some critiques on the fluffy bit, I had some trouble with it. I'm not very good at very emotional pieces…)**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Had a busy weekend, but still managed to get this up on time! Yay! So, this is the last part to the incredibly long bit that I had somehow imagined wouldn't be longer than 1 chapter, (silly me,) so now I can get back on track! This is essentially wrapping up the events of the last two chapters, and giving a lead in to the events of the next few. Not much excitement in this one, but there is a bit of TechxSive stuffs here, so for those who are liking that, enjoy!**

**And now for some bad news. This next chapter/chapters is/are going to be very long. It's probably going to have to be split into two again. And I'm going on vacation next week. This will be my last update for 2-3 weeks, so I will try to get the next part completely written over that time and post it at my earliest convenience, leaving the concluding chapter for last. Cross your fingers, folks! (The good news is that the next chapter(s) has/have a lot of action in them, so it's something to look forward to!) Until then, enjoy this!**

_Day 6 cont_. 

After pulling their tactical retreat, the Colonel and the General had planned to head back to the house for the time being, feeling as though they needed to strategize and carefully plan their next moves. Their quarry was starting to go on the offensive, and while this was usually a good thing, leading to more sporting fun for them, with the Loonatics, it added some considerable danger, especially considering how they now seemed to be (understandably) more willing to hurt them. They were going to have to be more careful from there on out.

However, on their way back, they stopped when they heard someone screaming nearby. Hoping that the Major or the Lieutenant had caught something, or that one of the Loonatics had gotten injured, they immediately changed course, hoping to join in on the fun. There are no words to describe their shock upon finding the Major rolling on the ground, hugging one knee to his chest with an apparent broken nose.

"Vhat happened?" the Colonel asked, strapping his rifle to his back before helping the Major into a proper sitting position.

"That fuckin' coyote's what happened!" he exclaimed.

"I could've sworn you shot the coyote…" the General said thoughtfully, wondering if his memory really was starting to get that bad.

The Major shook his head. "No, no, the _other_ one! She snuck up on me while I was checkin' up on the first coyote, broke my nose, busted my knee, and took off with the one I'd hit!"

"Let me get zis straight- you vere beat up by a girl," the Colonel stated humorlessly, though he was unable to keep a straight face. "You- ze twenty-six year old army vet- vere beat up by a girl half your size?"

"Don't start with me, old man!" the Major growled, tenderly wiping his nose. "I can point ya'll in the direction they went, if ya wanna chase after 'em. I'm gonna have ta go back to the house; this knee's 'bout as useful as a trapdoor in a canoe."

"I think it vould be beneficiary to come up vith a plan before facing our opponents again," the Colonel speculated thoughtfully. "It seems as though ve've underestimated our opponents. Ve vill have to think zis through carefully. Tomorrow is ze last day, after all, and ve still haven't caught a singe vone of zem."

"Though it seems that they've caught one of us," the General playfully jibed, giving the Major a slight nudge.

"Ha, ha, yer a riot," the Major retorted, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm gonna go out tomorrow even if I still can't walk straight- there ain't no way I'm missin' out on the end of this."

"I figured as much, and I would've made you go anyway," the Colonel stated indifferently. "I plan on taking Georg and Peter out as vell, let zem handle ze dogs. Ve should get a good night's rest, and you vill need to recover anyway, Tomson. Ve'll leave in ze morning, and ve'll stick together zis time."

"Good plan. That way, no one can get jumped," the Major stated dryly as he carefully got to his feet, assisted by the General. "Now, if we're stickin' together, I got one question: Where the _hell _is Jennings?"

Too busy with their bickering as they slowly hobbled away, the motley group never noticed that they were being watched, the figure hiding in the shadows of the trees until the hunters were far away before darting off back the way he had come in a blur of red.

**xoxoxoxox**

He didn't know how long he'd been out. None of his teammates had ever asked what it was like, to be clinically dead for any length of time before finally spluttering back to life. He wouldn't have had much of an answer for it- he assumed it was akin to what being stuck in an anti-gravity vacuum might be like, without the unbearable pressure and suffocation. He knew he wasn't breathing as it was, but wasn't bothering him any. He couldn't feel anything at all; he was just sort of floating there in his own personal purgatory between life and death, teetering on the edge.

And then, of course, there was the shock when everything suddenly pitched sideways as he fell back into reality. His regenerative powers automatically sensed when his body could handle sustaining itself again, sending an automatic shock to restart his heart, manually repairing and restoring his brain back to working condition as he suddenly sat up and desperately gasped for much needed air.

It always took a second for everything to start working properly. There was always the mild panic that set in with the shock of the sudden restart, the calm suddenly disappearing as though the floor had been ripped out from under him- or rather, suddenly replaced. The fact that he blacked out in the middle of a bad situation only made it worse; he typically was unconscious for ten minutes, sometimes even twice that. In the middle of a fight- or in this case, a hunter chase- who knew what he could've missed in that time.

As he tried to get his breathing under control, he came up with possible scenarios of what he'd missed. Judging by the fact that he hadn't been immediately hit over the head and/or shot again upon spluttering back to life, he figured that whatever had happened, he was now hunter-free as a result. Not alone, though, definitely not alone- he could feel someone else's hand on his arm, mostly helping to keep him upright, seeing as he was still lightheaded enough to be unable to see straight, let alone sit up without toppling over. The hand was far too small to be Slam's, but maybe Lexi? But then, what had happened to the hunters?

It took a few more minutes before he was breathing even enough for his head to stop swimming. Once he felt like he could look around without experiencing severe vertigo, he opened his eyes and immediately turned to his mystery company. Who he found wasn't at all who he'd been expecting.

"_Sive_?" he asked incredulously, unable to comprehend her presence, though unsure why, still not quite thinking clearly. She appeared to be alright, no visible wounds anywhere, and while her face remained fairly neutral, as it usually did, her deep blue eyes belied her concern for him.

"Hey," she greeted softly, only slightly loosening her grip on his arm. While she was happy to see him after the long separation and worry, and even happier that he was finally breathing again, she still wasn't sure if he was alright yet- he seemed a little out of it. "Welcome back to the world of the living. Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah..." he eloquently responded, unable to stop staring at her with a dumbfounded expression as he puzzled over _why_ seeing her there was out of place. It only took a few moments for him to remember, and when he did, the explanation hit him like a ton of bricks- as far as he knew, she'd been missing with Rev and Duck up until then. And now, she wasn't sitting more than two feet away. Later, he'd be confused by how relieved he was to see her alright, since he'd already logically concluded that he shouldn't have been worried about her in the first place. Right then, however, he couldn't contain his joy.

"Sive!" he exclaimed ecstatically, suddenly wrapping her up in a tight hug. Sive almost yelped in surprise, quickly bringing in her hands to rest on his chest to avoid Tech's bloody back. Once she wrapped her head around what he was doing, she gently rested her head on his shoulder, unable to return the embrace any other way from her awkward position.

Tech, upon realizing just what he'd compulsively done, froze. Sive wasn't much of a contact person anyway, typically phasing through most offered hugs when she felt it was getting out of her comfort zone. As it was, she'd stiffened up the second he'd embraced her, planting her hands on his chest as though to push him away. He was about to let go and profusely apologize when she tentatively rested her head on his shoulder. Surprised didn't quite describe his reaction to the returned sentiment, but he wasn't complaining one bit. In fact, he was rather enjoying the close contact, but he didn't have an answer as to why.

It was a couple of minutes before they mutually separated, an awkward silence quickly descending upon the two. Neither met the other's eyes, each waiting for the other to say something.

Tech was the one to break the silence, clearing his throat before hesitantly speaking. "So…are you alright? No injuries or anything? No close calls with a hunter?"

"Nothing worth mentioning injury wise," Sive readily replied, glad for the ice breaker. She then smiled wryly. "And I think I gave the hunters more close calls than the other way around."

Tech smiled. "Oh, yeah. We ran into the Lieutenant earlier. Any reason you stuck him in a hole?"

"He's still there?" Sive asked in smug disbelief before breaking into laughter. "I couldn't think of anything else at the time! I mean, I had to do _something _so Duck, Rev, and I could get away."

"Creative," Tech deadpanned.

"Wasn't it, though?" Sive said sarcastically. "However, I also got the Major."

"What, dare I ask, did you do to him?"

Sive took on a slightly sheepish look, and that's when Tech knew that whatever it was, it was morally acceptable by only Sive's standards. "Well, I'm fairly certain that he was the one who shot you, seeing as he was there waiting for you to wake up to probably shoot you again, and I had to do _something _ to make sure he couldn't follow us, so I, ah, went to town on him. By breaking his nose. And possibly his bad knee."

Tech good-humoredly face-palmed, though he couldn't contain his chuckle. "That sounds like something you would do."

"With where I'm from, can you blame me?" Sive asked with a shrug.

Tech shook his head, then looked around at their surroundings, eyeing the unfamiliar area of forest and the bubbling river nearby. "Where are we, and how did we get here?"

"In the general sounthern-ward direction from where the Major shot you. And I quasi-carried you." At Tech's look of utter skepticism and disbelief, Sive shrugged. "I was on an adrenaline rush after beating on the Major, and it wasn't like I had any other options. For the record, you're really heavy."

"You're smaller than me," Tech deadpanned. "So then how did you find me? Dumb luck?"

Sive shook her head. "Duck, Rev, and I took a trap-detection device off of the Lieutenant. We saw when you set off a trap and came running."

"Oh, I see…" Tech said, nodding his head as he thought back to when he'd set off the snap trap. It was then he realized something important. "Slam and Lexi! Where are they? Did you see them?"

Sive jumped slightly at his sudden exclamation before settling down. "No, I didn't. But I'm sure they're okay."

Tech shook his head in denial. "Sive, you've never been an optimist, don't start now. All three remaining hunters were after us-"

"And the other two were also dealt with accordingly," Sive interrupted calmly. "Here, let me give you the full rundown. Duck, Rev, and I met up with Ace yesterday- he's fine, just so you know. We were monitoring the device, and when it went off earlier, we followed the signal, then switched to following the guns. Rev and Duck went ahead, and when Ace and I got there, they were distracting the Colonel and the General. Whoever they'd been chasing was long gone. Since they both were still after their quarry, it's safe to assume that both Slam and Lexi were still okay at that point. Ace told Rev to go after who they'd been chasing after- Slam and Lexi- and he told me to fall back and figure out what the Major was up to. He and Duck stayed behind to further distract the other two hunters. We agreed to meet at a ravine a little ways to the southwest- just west from where we are right now."

Tech nodded, accepting Sive's logic and calming down with its reassurance. "So that means that all of us are back together now."

Sive's eyes widened as she realized that he was right. "Once we get over there, yeah. It took you a bit to regenerate this time around."

"That can happen sometime, depending on the damage," Tech dismissed before hopping up to his feet. "We should probably get moving, then; they'll be worried about us."

"Uh, Tech?" Sive said. "I agree completely, but I think some people- namely Rev and Lexi- would be very disturbed if you walked in looking like something out of A Nightmare on Elm Street."

Tech stopped in his tracks, twisting around to give Sive a questioning and slightly affronted look. However, when he twisted around, he got a look at his still-bloodstained back, and understood what she meant. "Ah, yes. That. You know, it's times like these that I prefer to be incinerated." Sive laughed boisterously at that while he looked at his back once more. "Ah, well, nothing that a quick dip in the river won't fix… Think I can salvage the shirt?"

"You can't bleach black, so no," Sive stated as her laughter abated. "Plus, when you take it off, it'll probably look like Swiss cheese."

Tech shrugged, peeling off his wet shirt before diving in.

**xoxoxoxox**

Rev ran as fast as he could back to the others, knowing that Sive and Tech were okay (or at least, would be okay,) and feeling that what he had overheard the hunters talking about took priority. It only took him a minute to get back to the ravine, almost running into Duck in the process.

"Ah!" the mallard shouted at the near miss, ducking as the roadrunner jumped over him to avoid a collision. "Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry-Duck-but-this-is-important!" Rev exclaimed, quickly sliding to a stop.

"What is it?" Lexi asked anxiously, her usual optimism long run out and automatically assuming the worst. "Are Tech and Sive alright? Did they get caught?"

"Oh-no-they're-fine," Rev stated surely.

"So you found them?" Lexi asked, a look of puzzlement crossing her face. "Then where are they?"

"Well-no-I-didn't-find-them-but-I-did-find-the-Colonel-and-General-while-looking-for-them-and-they-had-found-the-Major-who-looked-like-hell-and-he-said-that-he-had-shot-Tech-but-he can regenerate-so-he'll-be-okay-and-then-Sive-showed-up-and-had-beat-him-to-a-pulp-and-then-ran-off-with-Tech-but-Sive-had-taken-out-the-Major's-knee-and-the-other-two-didn't-go-after-them-so-that's-how-I-know-they're-okay," Rev explained, not even pausing for breath once through his elucidation. Lexi looked very relieved upon hearing this.

"Dat's great, Rev!" Ace exclaimed.

"But-it-gets-better!" Rev added quickly. "I-had-to-stay-hidden-to-make-sure-they-didn't-see-me-and-I-heard-what-they-were-planning-for-tomorrow!"

"And we're _finally_ a step ahead of those ancient army vets and their crippled friend!" Duck exclaimed relievedly, theatrics included. "Now we can show them who's boss, Loonatics style!"

"Hang-on-are-Tech-and-Sive-really-not-back-yet?" Rev asked, realizing that the two coyotes were _still _missing. "I-figured-that-they-would've-beaten-me-here-but-I-guess-not-but-that-makes-me-kind-of-worried-that-they're-still-not-here-yet-even-though-I-know-that-they're-okay-maybe-they-got-lost-or-something?"

"Tech, lost?" Ace asked skeptically. "I know you guys are worried about dem, but I still think we should just give dem some time ta get over here on deir own."

Rev shrugged. "I-know-Ace-but-with-the-hunters-gone-it-can't-help-to-look-around-again-so-I'll-be-right-back."

And with that, Rev dashed off again, intent on finding the two coyotes. He didn't make it out of sight of the others before running into- or rather, through Sive, Tech dodging to the side to avoid being run over. As it was the force of the 'impact' was enough to knock Sive off balance and land flat on her rear with a startled yelp. Rev immediately backtracked, skidding to a stop and running back to the others.

"Rev, have you ever heard the saying 'Look before you leap'?" Sive asked dryly, giving the roadrunner the stink eye. However, Rev was otherwise preoccupied at that moment.

"Tech!" Rev shouted, zipping over and running into Tech to give him a tight hug. It was only a few seconds later that he let go with a squeak of surprise. "You're-all-wet!"

"Trust me when I say it's better than the alternative…" Tech stated darkly, leaving the rest to imagination. It didn't take long for Rev to shrug it off, jumping back in to finish his hello hug to Tech.

In the meantime, Lexi came over and gave a hand to Sive to help her to her feet. Once the other was standing again, Lexi didn't waste a moment to give her a crushing hug of her own. Sive returned it as best she could, but Lexi knew how unused to intimacy Sive still was, and kept it fairly short.

"Are you okay?" she asked Sive after parting. "I was so worried about you guys, when we couldn't find you, and then when you didn't show up…"

"I've done more to them than they've done to me," Sive stated wryly, smirking a devious smirk that had Lexi rolling her eyes at her friend's mischievous antics.

It wasn't a second after being released from Lexi that Sive was being squeezed like a stress-ball by Slam, the massive Tasmanian devil surprising the coyote by suddenly lifting her off her feet and squishing her in his strong embrace.

"Happy to see you too, Slam," Sive gasped out, being unable to breathe. However, she could only handle the lack-of-oxygen and the affection for so long, and it was only a minute or so later that she was phasing out of his grasp, gratefully taking a deep breath of air.

Ace, on the other hand, was waiting patiently for Rev to finish his hello to Tech. It took a few minutes, the hug lasting long and the mile-a-minute ramble lasting longer, and Tech's inspection of Rev's scratched up back took even more time, but eventually Ace felt he could intrude without interrupting anything. He had a specific goal in mind, and didn't waste a second, walking right up to Tech and giving him a good smack upside the head.

"Hey!" Tech shouted, flinching at the impact before turning to Ace, making a show of rubbing his head while giving an unpleased look at the bunny.

"_Dat_ was for makin' a stupid move by bein' bait for da hunters!" Ace declared, giving the coyote an equally unpleased look. "And _dis_-" Tech automatically flinched, unsure of what to suspect and looking incredibly surprised when Ace hugged him, "-is for bein' okay."

Tech could only chuckle and return the embrace. "Glad to see you made it out alright, too, chief."

The embrace didn't last too long, both parting before it got awkward. It was then that Ace noticed something odd about his companion. "Hey, Tech? Where's your shirt?"

"Oh. That." Tech reached down and untied the piece of clothing in question from around his waist, displaying the ruined backside to Ace. "I figured it was a lost cause."

"Dat doesn't look like it was pleasant," Ace stated, wincing at the sight of the multiple holes and massive bloodstains until Tech returned it to its original position on his waist. "I take it dat's what held ya up?"

"Yes, it was," Sive interjected. "I had to wait for him to be able to walk on his own again- he's too heavy to carry."

"Again, you're smaller than I am."

Ignoring the two's playful bickering, the group walked back to the clearing they had just vacated, only to find that Duck hadn't even moved from his spot.

"Finally!" Duck exclaimed, rolling his eyes at the returning group. Now that he wasn't worried for anyone anymore, he had reverted back to his usual self- much to everyone else's _overwhelming_ joy. "Now that you two have finally decided to show up, can we please get back to doing what we usually do and beat these hunters to a pulp so we can go home? Do you have any idea how much Misty Breeze I've missed while we've been gone?"

"Oh joy, look who's back," Sive muttered sarcastically, receiving a playful jab in the ribs from Lexi, though she herself was also smiling.

"Good to see you too, Duck," Tech stated dryly, taking a seat on the ground along with everyone else. "He's right, though. Now that we're all together again, we can deal with these hunters without putting any of ourselves at risk, and considering how tomorrow's the last day, we should do that sooner rather than later. They're going to be pulling out all the stops tomorrow."

"Right," Ace agreed. "Rev, can ya tell us what they're plannin' ta do?"

At Sive and Tech's questioning looks, Rev quickly explained. "While-looking-for-you-two-I-overheard-the-hunters-and-they-essentially-layed-out-their-plans-for-tomorrow-right-there."

Sive looked impressed. "Handy."

"Incredibly so," Tech agreed. "What do you have, Rev?"

"Okay-so-they-said-that-all-three-of-them-would-go-home-for-the-night-and-all-three-of-them-would-head-out-in-the-morning-plus-Georg-and-Peter-who-would-handle-the-dogs-and-they'll-be-sticking-together."

"So that means that we have all night to set up," Lexi speculated.

"Good; we'll probably need it," Duck drawled.

"Foist things foist, though- we gotta get rid of dose dogs," Ace stated. "Den we can deal with da hunters."

"We-could-probably-lure-them-away-somehow-it-shouldn't-be-that-hard-they're-just-dogs," Rev said.

"But then what would we do with them once we've lured them away?" Sive asked. "We can't just have them running around loose while we're still here."

"I think I have an idea…" All eyes turned to Tech. He though for another second, making sure his thoughts were organized, before giving an impish smirk. "Well, Sive's already used of the hunter's pre-set traps against them. Why can't we just do it again?"

**A/N: Still a lot longer than I thought it would be… My prediction abilities have apparently shut off for the remainder of this story. XD The next few parts are the Loonatics vs the hunters, and I'm hoping to keep it to two long parts, but no promises. Next part's up when I get back! **

**Please review!**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: I had hoped it wouldn't be this late, but between vacation, ridiculous amounts summer homework, and Grand Theft CPU: Michigan State edition, it was unavoidable. (For details on that last one, see my friend x A Naughty Mouse x's profile sometime about a week from now.) The good news is that the next one should come in next weekend, or possibly earlier, depending upon how quickly I can get through reading Pride and Prejudice. (I've read it before, but they want us to do a ridiculous amount of annotations…)**

**Anywho, this chapter is by far the climax of the story. There's lots of action- not fight-ey stuff, per say, but action. This ended up only being one chapter that was a lot shorter than I thought it would be… My guestimation-abilities have gone dormant on me. **

**Enjoy!**

_Day 7_

They left early in the morning, a pre-dawn mist still hanging low to the ground over the dew covered grass as they departed their luxurious home. The wind was strong, the clouds moving rapidly overhead, but while they were enough to keep it dark and hide the approaching sunrise from view, the clouds appeared light enough to avoid rain.

Georg and Peter lead a few yards ahead of the army vets, both of the brothers holding two leashes in each of their massive paws. However, despite their seemingly superhuman strength the brothers were practically being dragged along by the dogs, the massive hunting animals setting the pace as they kept their noses low to the ground, seeking out the scent of their quarry.

The hunters followed at their own pace, the General being too old to move with the dogs and the Major still limping heavily from his run-in with the ticked-off coyote the previous day. The Colonel, rather than being on his own somewhere between the two groups, opted to stick with his armed friends in the back. Of the five of them, only the General was worried for the MIA Lieutenant, if only mildly so; the Loonatics were superheroes, by definition the good guys. They weren't known for severely injuring, let alone killing anyone. As for the other four, the brothers couldn't have cared less either way, the Colonel was more focused on the thrill of the hunt and the threat of their prey, and the Major was more focused on thoughts of revenge.

It took a few hours, the sun undoubtedly high in the sky somewhere behind the cloud cover by that time, but the dogs eventually picked up a scent. It was old, so they weren't too excited, but they followed it anyhow. When they picked up the more recent scent, even the hunters far behind the dogs could hear it; they went _wild_.

Georg and Peter could only hang on for the ride, now quite literally being dragged behind the wildly barking and howling dogs while the hunters steadily fell more and more behind them. The dogs were usually better about minding their masters, so whatever it was that had gotten their attention must have been big. They were rapidly approaching the old stone quarry, so Georg and Peter were readying to let go of the leashes should the crazed dogs try to run into the pit.

As the ground suddenly changed from dirt to smooth stone, both brothers fell to the ground, losing their footing and the leashes. The dogs didn't go far, though- only a few more yards to the edge of the pit near a sudden rise about twelve feet above, a large boulder resting atop it. All they could see was that the dogs were ardently attacking whatever it was that had been emanating the powerful scent they'd been tracking.

"Was ist los mit ihnen?"* Peter asked as he and Georg picked themselves up off the ground, both sharing a befuddled look at the dogs' enthusiastic reaction. Georg could only shrug in response.

They cautiously approached the frenzied animals, not wanting to draw their attention to themselves should they spontaneously decide to change targets. A scrap of something flew up from the frenzy, slowly fluttering back down to land at Georg's feet. He bent down and picked it up, examining the little scrap closely.

It was nothing more than a piece of cloth. Black on one side, green and red on the other- nothing special. And yet it had the dogs going nuts. Georg handed off the scrap to his brother for his own inspection, scanning the area as he did so.

He should've looked up.

"Buh-bye!" Slam called, making the brothers jump and look up at him in time to catch his cheeky grin, his cheerful wave- and the boulder he had just pushed heading for the ground.

They didn't even have to move to avoid it, the giant rock impacting halfway between the brothers and the dogs with room to spare. They thought of the Tasmanian devil as incredibly stupid for missing at such close range- until the platform they'd been standing on tipped under the boulder's weight. What had once been a natural overhang created by one large, flat rock half-embedded in the soil now became a surfboard, sending the alarmed Germans and yelping dogs sliding down the edge and into the pit below.

While it had been harmless, it now left them trapped at the bottom of the deep pit. The brothers were fruitlessly attempting time and again to climb the smooth sides back to the top, profusely swearing in German all the while; while the dogs could only whimper at their predicament, join the men in attempting to jump to freedom, or bark at Slam high above. With one last wave, Slam retreated back to his hiding spot, letting the others handle their parts of the plan.

It took them a few minutes, but eventually the hunters emerged from the trees, weapons drawn to face whatever had the dogs going nuts. Their surprise upon finding, or rather, _not_ finding the dogs, Georg, and Peter was understandable- even more so when they saw just where they'd gone.

"What the hell...?" the Major murmured, giving a look of utter confusion down at the upset dogs and infuriated Germans.

After giving his dogs a look over, focusing on each one to make sure that none of his prized hunters were injured, and then giving Georg and Peter a quick, cursory glance, the Colonel called, "Was ist passiert? Warum bist du da unten?"**

He could barely hear Peter's yelled reply, unable to make out any of the words. "Was?"() he called, receiving only a slightly louder shout in return. Knowing that the old General's hearing was worse than his own, he turned to the Major. "Can you hear zem?"

"'Course I can," the Major retorted, offended by the question. "Hearin's the first thing ta go, but I still got mine."

"Vell, vould you please enlighten me on vat zey are saying, oh young vone?" the Colonel asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

The Major shot him an are-you-stupid? look. "Does it look like I speak German ta you?"

"Ah, lads," the General interrupted, pointing to something on the other end of the pit, "I think we've got other things te worry about."

Their attention instantly switching from their squabble to the General, they followed his point- and managed to duck just in time to avoid having the rapidly moving ball of flame that was Rev hit them at full speed. They were able to get back to their feet just in time to watch the roadrunner disappear back into the forest, but weren't quick enough to fire off any shots.

Without a second thought about the dogs, Georg, and Peter, the Major took off after the fleeing roadrunner as fast as his bad knee would allow him, the General hot on his heels. The Colonel followed more cautiously, not writing off the predicament his dogs were in; he knew they were smart enough to stop chasing whatever had alerted them when it had gone into the pit. Plus, the roadrunner attracting their attention like that seemed too perfect. The only reason he didn't immediately assume foul play was because Georg and Peter were dumb enough to have potentially lead his dogs into the pit, and the roadrunner moved so fast that it was logical to assume that once he had seem them, it had been too late to change course.

In retrospect, the Colonel figured he should've been more suspicious. The roadrunner, though remaining in the air, kept fairly low to the ground, even though he could've easily lost the hunters by flying up through the trees, or simply by picking up speed. He took a winding path that was so random, shooting at him would have been a waste of ammo, yet he always remained just within sight of the hunters.

That all changed once they reached the wooden bridge. The area on both sides of the river had a clear spot, giving the hunters the chance they needed. Rifles drawn once they reached the bridge, they took aim, ready to fire- just as Rev decided to suddenly change direction, quickly climbing into the air before disappearing behind the tree line. He'd monitor his friends from there.

The hunters came to the other side of the bridge before stopping, taking a moment to catch their breath and try to process what had just happened.

"Something's not quite right..." the Colonel stated thoughtfully, mostly to himself as he surveyed the area.

"I'll say," the General agreed. "Somethin' strange is afoot."

"Aw, you old guys are just bein' paranoid!" the Major scoffed, shouldering his rifle. "I swear, you two're jumpier than a buckin' bull."

"It's not paranoia." The deadpan statement from someone else behind them made all three men instantly turn around, the two elder raising their rifles while the Major ripped his knife from his boot. They didn't even have a chance to aim before their weapons were forcibly confiscated, a green glow surrounding them before they went flying behind the- notably shirtless- green coyote in front of them, eyes aglow as he let his magnetism do the work. A medley of other hidden weapons from the hunters' persons' followed the two rifles and knife, including two more hidden knives and the rifle from the Major, two handguns from the General, and the oddest item by far- a full-length sword from the strap on the Colonel's back.

The three men were now terrified. Their number one rule, never, _ever_, allow yourself to be disarmed, had gone out in a puff of smoke and a burst of magnetism. And worse, their super powered opponents seemed to be through with playing their game. As one, they all flipped around, indenting to go back across the bridge and making a mad dash for the house- or more specifically, the weapons store in the basement. Action was unable to follow thought; they hadn't made it three steps before the bridge was spontaneously destroyed in a joint blast of pink and yellow. The three men could only watch in horror as bits and pieces of their only means of escape floated down the fast-flowing river before looking up at the smug faces of Ace and Lexi, eyes still glowing as they approached the bank on the opposite side of the river.

"What's up, docs?" Ace asked coolly, adopting a slightly hostile stance.

"If you'd prefer surrender over having your asses handed to you, now's the time," Lexi stated, sounding completely serious despite the mile-wide smirk on her face.

Their answer was as evident as it was quick- they ran off into the brush, too fast for anyone to do anything to stop them.

"Ya know," Ace began, "for two old guys and one guy with a limp, dey move pretty fast."

"I'll go get Duck," Tech said, unceremoniously dropping the weapons on the ground around him. "Tell him it's time for part three."

**xoxoxoxox**

The hunters traveled for a long while before stopping, pulling into a particularly enclosed area within the trees. All three were gasping for breath, the Major cradling his knee with a pained expression as he sat, and the General supporting himself with one hand on his back and a wince.

"I'm gettin' too old fer this..." the General grumbled.

"What the hell are those guys playin' at?" the Major exclaimed. "This ain't never happened to us before! No one's ever lasted 'till the last day, let alone tryin' ta fight back!"

The General shook his head. "It's different fer sure, laddie, but we're sittin' ducks here. We need ta get back to tha house."

"Where's Jennin's when ya need him?" the Major groused. "That lil' coward's pro'lly hidin' in a hole somewhere- the lil' bastard."

"Or they already got 'im," the General suggested, a mixed look of surprise and fear crossing his old features. "He has been missin' fer three days, now."

The Major face palmed. "And God knows what they'll do ta us when we're caught."

"So ve von't be caught," the Colonel cut in with an indifferent shrug. "Ze Lieutenant is of no concern to us at ze moment- ve must focus on getting back to ze house."

"But with the bridge out, tha only way across is in the southeast, near the canyon. That's half a day's walk, at least, plus whatever it'll take to get to tha house!" the General moaned.

The Colonel shrugged. "Zen so be it. Ve just need to last long enough to get zere. Now, all of our veapons can't have been magnetic- vat do ve have left to vork vith?"

It turned out to be not much. Between them, they had only a cheap penknife from the General, made with a copper casing and a stainless steel blade; a commemorative knife from the Colonel, made with a pearl handle and silver blade not really meant for use; and a flare gun with six rounds from the Major.

"Not a whole lot ta work with..." the Major groused.

"At least it's somethin'," the General pointed out. "I fer one wouldn't want ta face one of them bare-handed."

"I don't see why not," the Major scoffed. "Yer as big as that Tasmanian devil, at least!"

"Gentlemen, please!" the Colonel cut in, not wanting the two to degenerate into an all-out battle. "Ve have a destination. Let's get moving before it gets dark."

They moved in silence, hugging the river as they made their way to the shallow crossing down the island. Though still not breaking any records, they moved at a faster pace than they had earlier, eager to get back to their home and re-arm themselves.

The Loonatics, however, had other ideas in mind.

Without warning, Duck quacked in mere feet from them, an egg already primed for throwing. The General saw him in time to give an alarmed yell of "RUN'" before putting action to words and taking off into the woods, the other two vets hot on his heels as the egg was chucked in their general direction. It proved to be nothing more than a harmless water egg, and Duck had aimed it to purposely miss, anyhow, but it did have the desired effect; it scared them senseless and set them running.

With an impish smirk, Duck quacked off after them, continuing his performance. The practically unarmed men could only run in terror away from the mallard's continual assault. It was only when it was too late that the Colonel realized what their tormenter was doing- not trying to kill them, but herding them. He turned to warn his companions, and that was when it was finished for them.

It was as though it happened in slow motion. As he turned his head, he caught a glimpse of something streaking past only inches from his feet. Past experiences told him that it was an arrow (the Lieutenant wasn't known for his aim.) He saw it continue its path, not hitting any of the three hunters; in fact, it looked as though it wouldn't hit anything at all for quite a distance. But of course, he realized what its purpose was when it traveled past one of the Lieutenant's well-hidden sensors, the yellow light changing to red with a loud, mechanical beep.

Too fast for any of the hunters to process, a net that had previously been hidden under the dense growth was propelled upward, catching them all by surprise. The Colonel and General were propelled sideways by the rising net, hitting each other with some force, both dropping their makeshift weapons to avoid stabbing each other. The unfortunate Major, on the other hand, had been standing at the edge of the net, propelling him backwards on top of the other two and sending his flare gun flying as they were suspended several feet off the ground, the option of escape vanishing into thin air.

Duck quacked in at that moment, ready to launch another egg, when he saw the hunters neatly wrapped up in their trap like a well-deserved Christmas present. Content with their situation, he idly tossed the egg over one shoulder, uncaringly eyeing it spatter a nearby tree with orange juice. He turned, preparing to tease his captive audience, only to almost be hit square in the beak my the flying flare gun. Haphazardly juggling it in an attempt to catch it, not wanting to find out what would happen to a flare gun when it made a hard impact on the ground, he was saved when Tech walked up behind him and easily grabbed it, leveling an unamused look at the mallard.

Duck returned the look before turning back to the caught hunters. "This worked better than I thought it would."

"Of course it did; _I_ set it up," Tech boasted, before saying a little louder than before, "I'm still surprised you knew how to work that thing."

"It's easy!" Sive replied, crawling out from her hiding spot under the heavy cover of the bushes, crossbow still in hand. Notable to the hunters, it didn't have a bolt in it. "It's the same general concept as a slingshot."

"You _would_ have experience with those, wouldn't you?" Duck asked disdainfully, Sive playfully sticking her tongue out at him in response.

"It looks as though we've won your little 'game'," Tech stated, addressing the men in the net.

"Indeed it does," the Colonel replied thoughtfully. "I must congratulate you on a job well done. No vone has ever come close to besting us before."

"Why are ya congratulatin' 'em, ya crazy old coot!" the Major asked in frustrated disbelief. He added an elbow jab for good measure.

"Ow!" the General cried. "Tomson, that was _me!"_

"If I may ask," the Colonel interrupted, "how did you thing of zis plan?"

"Easy," Duck said, "Miss Demeanor here already caught the short one in one of his own traps, so we figured we'd do it again."

"Well, that certainly explains where he's been…" the General observed.

"And now it's game over for the rest of you," Sive stated cheerily.

"For about 25 to life, anyway," Ace added, stepping out of the bushes with the rest of the team in tow.

"I don't know, they have a pretty good chance at an insanity plea," Lexi stated, giving the hunters a withering look.

"Hey, how'd y'all get here so fast?" the Major asked confusedly, ignoring the insanity remark. "The bridge is out, and it would've taken all day ta get over here!"

"Well-maybe-for-you-but-I-was-able-to-fly-Ace-and-Lexi-across-and-when-he's-using-his-tornado-powers-Slam-can-move-pretty-fast-and-he-was-able-to-get-a-fast-enough-running-start-to-jump-across-at-a-reasonable-gap," Rev explained, far too fast for any of the hunters to follow, but they weren't going to risk asking again.

"Now dat dis mess is taken care of," Ace began, "we need ta find a way home."

"We could always 'confiscate' their boat," Sive recommended, indicating the hunters with a nod of her head.

"Just 'cause we're caught don't change the fact that all we got is a 'lil sailboat," the Major cut in. "We weren't lyin' 'bout that."

"And-with-my-GPS-still-out-I-still-can't-fly-back," Rev said, worry starting to lace his voice at the prospect of being stuck on the island of horrors for any longer.

"You got any ideas, Tech?" Ace asked, turning to the genius in hopes that he would shed some light on their situation.

"I might…" Tech said distractedly, not taking his eyes off the flare gun in his hands, already scheming.

And then, for the first time in over a week, the sun broke through the clouds.

**A/N: Ending with a little symbolism… XD**

**We're at the end, folks! Just one more chapter to go, and then this story is finished! I've already started the outline for my next one, though, so there shouldn't be another six-month gap between works this time. **

**Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this story until the long-awaited end! (This took me a year to write… DX) Please continue to make my weeks and review!**

*What's up with them?  
>**What happened? Why are you down there?<br>() What?


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: This was very close to being late (my mother is suffocating me with overdone college-prep that I don't need, especially considering how I'm only a Junior,) but I worked diligently and managed to finish it! The fact that I had the worst case of writer's block didn't help things along any, but I managed.**

**Okay, so this is the very end of this story, about a year in the making! This last chapter contains some Acexi, mostly TechxSive. It's one of those not-ending-endings, but that's how I wanted to close it. You can infer what happens from there. **

**Details on what's to come in my last A/N. Until then, enjoy the long awaited conclusion!**

_Day 7 cont._

It took him until late in the evening to do it, but within a few hours, Tech had taken the six flare gun rounds from the Major and, using all sorts of odds and ends from around the island, transformed them from the quick, 10 second bursts of white light into high-flying, long lasting, 10 to 20 minute, multi-colored fireworks shows. Now instead of having a total of 1 minute of flare, they had 1 to 2 hours of fireworks, giving them much better odds of being seen by passing boats far away. They had to wait until well past sunset to set them off, but by then the clouds had mostly cleared and the wind had died down, giving them even better odds of being seen. Their area was lit as though it was daytime, so someone was bound to see their "midnight sun."

They had moved to a location on the southern end of the island, near the beach they had washed up on only a week ago so they would have quick access to whomever saw them. There, up on a clear hillside, they were able to watch both their own display up in the sky and the surrounding waters for any boats.

After some deliberation, they had decided cut the three hunters down from the net, opting to take the three with them to their lookout point. Slam, Rev, and Tech had even felt charitable enough to help the Lieutenant out of his hole and escort the irate Englishman to his buddies, who boisterously laughed at the pint-sized Brit when they heard just how he'd been trapped. Now the group was seated on the hill, in the center of a wide and loose circle of Loonatics.

Duck and Slam were lying at the bottom end of the hill, though they weren't really doing anything by way of watching their captives. Slam was curled up on his side, asleep despite the frequent cracks of the bursting shells. His loud snoring was testament to how soundly he slept. Duck, though still appearing to be watching the fireworks, was also well on his way to falling asleep. His eyes were drooping, and every so often he'd jerk awake, look around wildly and, once content that nothing had changed, repeated the process. Considering what they'd been through, no one could blame them.

Rev, on the other hand, was wide-awake and mystically as energetic as ever. The lack of sleep didn't seem to bother him at all. In fact, almost immediately upon arriving at their hill, he'd volunteered for lookout duty, flying up to the top of a tall tree on the left side of the hunters before anyone else could get a word in. He was supposed to look out for boats, though Tech suspected one reason he so readily volunteered was to be able to watch the fireworks better from his high-up perch.

Ace and Lexi were sitting at the top of the makeshift circle, quietly talking to each other. Ace was sitting up against a wide tree, one arm wrapped around Lexi's shoulders while she used his shoulder as a pillow. She was more focused on watching the show, while Ace was mainly watching the hunters. He'd already caught them trying to sneak away once, though a quick, dangerous flash of yellow from his eyes quickly put a stop to that.

Tech and Sive were on the other side of the hill where it was clear enough to shoot the flare gun without risking hitting anyone else, or even worse, setting the greenery on fire. They were using a large boulder as both a backrest and a launching platform to set off the flares.

Tech was standing up on the rock, the hand holding the flare gun pointed up into the air and the other covering his ears as he pulled the trigger, sending the fifth round whistling up into the air before exploding, lighting up the sky once again. Once he was satisfied that it would continue to go off correctly (number two had almost been a dud, had it not been for a well aimed bolt of lightning from Sive,) he slid back down the rock, taking back his seat next to Sive.

"And that makes five," he said, pocketing the remaining shell as he placed the gun at his side. "Assuming the Coast Guard was alerted to this sometime during the first half-hour, they should be here at any time.

"You know, assuming that they _acted_ on it sometime during the first half-hour," Sive replied dryly.

"This is true," Tech agreed, well aware of how helpless and lazy the City of Acmetropolis' Coast Guard was, hence how they got into their current predicament. "I swear, when we get back, I'm going to give the head of this division a piece of my mind."

Sive gave a non-committal "Mm-hm" in reply and then was silent. He turned to see what had her so distracted, and was mildly surprised to see her looking at the sky. With her paranoia, he figured she would have had her eyes glued on the hunters the whole time, seeing that as of not too long ago they had been a very large threat, but instead she was avidly watching the homemade pyrotechnics, looking fairly relaxed- a rarity for the usually cagey coyote. He could see a soft, barely-there smile on her face in the illumination from above, the bright flashes of the fireworks reflecting in her eyes that-

"What?" Sive suddenly asked, abruptly jerking him out of his thoughts. He hadn't even noticed her move, let alone that he'd been staring at her. Now she was giving him a look that, oddly enough, wasn't affronted, seeing as he had been staring, but, in Tech's opinion, cutely puzzled.

"Oh, uh, well, I was just, uh- you see, I-" he started, unable to form a coherent thought, let alone a sentence. She arched one eyebrow, showing her increase in confusion, but her amusement was belied by a slight quirk of her mouth.

"Uh, the hunters!" the exclaimed, a little louder than he meant to as he grasped onto the thought. After getting more control of himself and his uncooperative voice, he continued. "I was just- curious as to why you weren't watching them, seeing as you're usually, ah, _cautious_." Not the whole truth, to be certain, but it wasn't a lie.

"To put it lightly," Sive scoffed, accepting his blurted explanation. However, his strange behavior didn't go unnoticed, and she couldn't help but give him a sidelong glance. She didn't know how she would've reacted, but it took a bit of effort to keep from finding out; it wasn't often the intelligent coyote was caught off guard, let alone allowed himself to get visibly flustered.

She relaxed again, deciding not to dwell on her friends' demeanor and turning her gaze back to the sky. "To answer your question, the hunters aren't going anywhere anytime soon. At the rate he's going, Ace is going to glare holes into their heads whether or not they try anything."

Tech turned around with a perplexed look, craning his head to see over the rock and look at Ace. Sure enough, in the light from the fireworks, Tech could see that Ace was staring intently downhill. The bunny was either suddenly _very_ unhappy with Duck and Slam, or he was on self-appointed guard duty.

Satisfied with his findings, he sat back down. "Yeah, I'm not so sure I'd try anything if the one with laser vision was giving me that look, either."

"He already threatened them with it once," Sive informed him matter-of-factly before changing back to the previous subject. "But, I'd also rather watch the fireworks- I haven't seen any in a long while."

"Well, yeah, July isn't for a couple of months yet," Tech acceded, "and Acmetropolis usually has their New Years shows on the other side of town from us, so-"

"No, I mean anytime within the last decade, give or take," Sive interrupted, not moving her gaze though giving a humorless smile.

"Oh." Tech couldn't form a more intelligent reply right away purely because it took him a moment to fathom the concept. It took him an extra moment to say something purely because talking of anything relating to Sive's life that was pre- New Chicago was very taboo. If she didn't initiate the subject, she'd usually become very withdrawn, sometimes even fleeing the room if whoever started the topic didn't stop in a timely matter. Seeing as she started the topic, he figured he was okay, but he still didn't want to upset her.

"They didn't have anything in New Chicago?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, of course they did!" she replied, turning her attention to him. "But that was all in the main part of the city, on the lake and whatnot. They didn't fund any shows in the Navy District, and its occupants were more focused on selling fireworks- which is illegal in that state- than watching them. Whoever didn't sell them typically didn't want to spare the money for buying them. No, the last time I saw a fireworks show, I was...five years old, I think." Tech couldn't hide his look of utter disbelief. "What?" she asked defensively.

He quickly composed himself before replying. "Nothing- just surprised, I guess. It seems...weird to me."

"How so?" Sive asked, confusion coloring her tone. Considering what her situation had been, it didn't seem that strange to her.

"In my family, going to the Fourth of July shows was and still is a heavily enforced tradition," he said with a completely straight face, though Sive couldn't help laughing. "It's true! My mom calls us all back home for it, and if anyone tries to skip out, she'll send everyone else there to gang up on them and go to a show nearby, as I've found out a few times already."

"And your dad goes along with this?"

"He's the 'Yes, dear' type," Tech said with a wry grin. "Besides, he'll take any excuse to have all of us together."

"I take it there are a lot of you," Sive said dryly. "She invites extended family, I assume?"

"Nope." Here Sive was confused as to why gathering the family was such an ordeal, until Tech continued with, "I have three older brothers- one married with two kids, another one engaged- and one younger sister."

"Wow!" Sive exclaimed, giving her companion a sympathetic look. "One older brother is enough for me, thanks."

"Aaron isn't that bad," Tech said. "Mine are worse."

Sive shrugged. "I'd have to meet them to compare, so until then, we'll just have to agree to disagree."

Tech was silent for a moment, joining Sive in watching the pyrotechnics, until an idea struck him. "Hey, why don't you come with us next time?"

"Hm?" Sive said, unsure if she heard him right as she turned to him with an incredulous look.

"Well, we've got to show you some real fireworks at some point; these are nothing compared to professional shows," Tech said, indicating his own work in the sky.

"I appreciate the thought," she said, "but I think it would be a little awkward if I accompanied you to your house."

Tech shrugged. "So don't. I'll 'forget' to go home and get them to come to me. I haven't done that during my time on the team, and knowing my mother, if she did come with everyone, she'd insist on anyone of us who didn't go home for the holiday to come with."

Sive couldn't help but laugh. "Tech, you are an evil mastermind, and that is what I like about you." Tech laughed along with her, but she didn't notice the blush that spread across his cheeks. "I have one more question for you, though: What happens when more than one person tries to skip out?"

"Then the skies will turn red and rain fire, the dead will walk the earth, and Duck will develop a sense of modesty." Here they both burst into boisterous laughter, and didn't come down from it for a while.

Ace and Lexi had been talking to each other, but their attention was diverted upon hearing raucous laughter coming from Tech and Sive's direction. They turned and saw the coyotes laughing at some joke only they were privy to, sitting fairly close to each other and almost falling over in their laughter.

"Dose two are certainly very friendly with each other," Ace commented nonchalantly.

"Yep. _Very _friendly…" Lexi agreed, a conspiratorial hint to her comment that could have gone unnoticed by Ace, had he not also suspected something.

There was a long pause in which each bunny tried to deconstruct what the other said to see if they were both hinting at the same thing. However, neither had given away too much, making the other unsure.

Lexi broke first. "Okay, I have to know. Do you see anything between them, too, or is my meter off?"

"Oh, good, I thought it was just me," Ace said relievedly. "I could tell Tech was nuts about her when we were with each other based on how freaked he was."

"Oh, yeah," Lexi agreed. "And Sive's more subtle, but she definitely likes him."

"Only time'll tell if they act on it, though."

"Those two? No," Lexi quickly concluded, "they'll need help. Tech's, well, _Tech_, and Sive's still new to having lots of friends around, let alone a relationship. No, those two will need a push…"

The lengthy pause made Ace slightly concerned. "You're scheming, I can tell."

"Of course I am!" she agreed enthusiastically. "I'm the best friend, it's my _job!"_

Ace only shook his head, but before he could reply, Rev zipped down from his tree, coming to a clean stop by Ace and Lexi. "Hey-guys-sorry-to-interrupt-but-I-was-watching-the-ocean-like-I-said-I-would-when-I-saw-a-light-and-at-first-I-thought-it-was-the-reflection-of-the-fireworks-on-the-water-so-I-didn't-think-anything-of-it-but-it-didn't-go-away-and-it's-getting-closer-and-now-there-are-more-of-them-and-I-think-they're-boats!"

Ace didn't hesitate, springing up to his feet and running over to the tree Rev had previously occupied. With a running jump, he rapidly climbed up high, stopping once he had a clear view over the ocean. While Rev's eyesight was good, Ace's was better, and with the illumination from their lightshow above, he was able to see most of the fleet of a dozen or so boats. He was able to see the Coast Guard logo on the front most boats.

"Hey, it's da Coast Guard!" he shouted down to the others, receiving an enthusiastic cheer from those of their number who were still awake, causing the other two to awaken with a jump. Once they realized what they had missed, they were just as ecstatic as the others.

The boats arrived just before the last shell went out half an hour later. After quite a bit of explaining on their part, dropping off the four criminals into custody, and directing some officers to the two still in the quarry pit, the Loonatics finally headed for home.

**A/N: Couldn't get that ending out exactly how I wanted it to be, but I deemed it good enough to avoid having you all wait another day or two. Please tell me what you all kind and constant readers think in a review!**

**And, as promised, a teaser for what's to come! For those who regularly check my profile, you'll see that I switched the order of up-and-coming stories, putting the one that previously read "One member gets fed up and quits the team" to the front. It doesn't read exactly that anymore, but it's the same general idea, and thanks to a sudden burst of inspiration for it, I pushed it up and pushed the other one back. (I need to develop the other one a bit more first, anyhow.) I have the outline almost half done, and I'm hoping- cross your fingers!- to have the first chapter out in two to three weeks, purely because it's right before school starts and I'm super busy. It for sure won't be a multi-month wait like last time, though! Also, the way I see it, this won't be my usual 20-or-so chapter story, probably shorter, but my estimation abilities seem to have gone dormant on me, so I could be wrong on that count. I hope you're all looking forward to it, and until then, happy reading!**


End file.
